Venous return is improved because negative, not positive, pressure is employed, and fewer respiratory infections are reported. Quadriplegic patients are frequently able to live at home or in nursing facilities that will not accept patients on mechanical ventilators.
Transmitters are silent, rugged, and easily carried, even by children.
This expedites rehabilitation and trips outside the home. In over thirty years since their introduction, breathing pacemakers have not been shown to damage the phrenic nerves or diaphragm. Several of our patients, including Debbie have been pacing for over 25 years, and many more for over 10 years. The youngest patient, implanted at 57 days old, is still pacing well at 14 years of age.