Essentially all of Guidant's recently implanted devices (pacemakers, defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization devices) have been place under product advisories.   This does not mean that these devices need to be explanted.  In fact, the errors and/or failures seen to date in all of these devices are very rare.  The failure rates in all of these devices is lower then 1%.  The risk of infection from a device exchange is around 1%.  The risk of other complications from surgery or anesthesia is also around 1%.  If a newly implanted device becomes infected, then the device and all associated pacing wires needs to be extracted.  An extraction of old pacing wires can entail further complications and even a small risk of death.  Thus for most patients, the risks of leaving the device in place is less then the risk of removal and exchange.  While this is true for most patients with most of the devices implanted, this is not true for every patient or every device.  By clicking on the links above, you can learn more about your particular device.  For the record, we are advising all patients with implanted Guidant devices under advisory to schedule a consultation with their doctors so that the device can be evaluated and a specific recommendation made for that individual patient.