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Worldwide disparities in the use of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), in part because of their high cost, are widely acknowledged. In many parts of India, ICDs are unavailable to a large proportion of the population. Therefore, cardiologists in Mumbai enlisted the help of American colleagues in obtaining explanted ICDs for reimplantation in patients who could not afford a new device. Explanted ICDs had at least 3 years of projected battery longevity and were meticulously resterilized. Many were acquired from regional funeral homes in the U.S., after directors obtained verbal consent from the decedents' families.
Since 2002, 81 patients (mean age, 53; 82% men) with Class I indications for ICDs received 106 explanted devices. A s…