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Editor's Correspondence
Apr 23, 2012

Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices: Prevention Starts From Ethics

Author Affiliations

Author Affiliations: Cardiology Unit, Santa Maria Annunziata Hospital (Drs Ballo and Chiodi), and Department of Cardiology, Local Health Unit (Dr Zuppiroli), Florence, Italy.

Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(8):670-672. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.346

We read with interest the article by Sohail et al,1 in which infections related to cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) were associated with substantial admission and long-term mortality. The importance of clinical and technical procedures for infection prevention was stressed in the “Comment” section and the related Commentary.2 However, an additional major issue that was not addressed is that these results support a key role of ethics in the prevention of CIED infections.

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