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Now very soon your surgeon will not have to toss your old heart pacemaker out in the trash. According to cardiologists, used pacemakers can be reconditioned and used again to save more lives outside the United States.

"Unlike in the United States, pacemaker therapy is often not available or affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries," explained Dr. Thomas Crawford, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center in Ann Arbour, Michigan.

"Our program is determined to change that."

Earlier this month, Dr. Crawford's team presented the results of trials conducted at an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago comparing the function and safety of renovated pacemakers to new devices. While the trial involved only 300 people across seven countries in Africa and the Americas, the results were positive.

Participants were randomly chosen to receive either a new or a reconditioned pacemaker—a small, battery-powered device that regulates the heart's rhythm and rate using electrical pulses. According to doctors, pacemakers are generally used to treat arrhythmias—conditions where the heart beats too fast, too slow, or irregularly. They can also help the heart's chambers beat in sync, which improves the organ's ability to pump blood.

According to statistics, every year, between one and two million people die worldwide due to a lack of access to pacemakers and defibrillators.

Experts say These pacemakers were implanted under the skin, providing electrical impulses to help regulate an irregular heartbeat. Comparing the function and safety of reconditioned pacemakers to new devices, researchers said they did not fund any significant differences in the function of the old ones even 90 days after their procedure.

Even though three people who received reconditioned pacemakers died and five developed localized infections, researchers said none of the deaths were linked to the implantation malfunction.

Doctors inform that the recycled pacemakers come from either those who had the device and have now died or those who need an upgrade to a more sophisticated device. In the programme, pacemakers that have more than four years of battery life are reprocessed at a Michigan lab and re-sterilised in Connecticut, US. Many come from a recycling firm that serves the cemetery and crematory industries.

"We have created a published roadmap, if you will, of how other centers and partners around the world can join in this most worthy cause," said Dr. Kim Eagle, study co-author and director of the Frankel Cardiovascular Center.

Conditions that are treatable with a pacemaker include:

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