The pacemaker code is written in a five-letter format as in the table below, using no more letters than necessary. For example, the DDDR pacemaker is a dual-chamber paced, dual-chamber sensed, dual response, rate modulated device. At least one pacemaker mode, the DVIC mode variation, does not conform to the NBG identification code, and may sometimes be written DVI(C).

In the 1970s and 1980s, before the NBG codes came into being, the Inter-Society Commission for Heart Disease (IHCD) established standardized codes for pacemakers. Information on these older pacemaker codes can be found at NASPE.

chambers paced 1	chambers sensed 2	modes of response 3	programmable functions 4	antitachycardia functions 5		As seen on p. 256 of Elsevier's Manual of Critical Care Nursing, 5th Edition, where it is reproduced by permission.
V = Ventricle	V = Ventricle	T = Triggered	R = Rate Modulated	O = None
A = Atrium	A = Atrium	I = Inhibited	C = Communicating	P = Paced
D = Dual (A & V)	D = Dual (A & V)	D = Dual Triggered/Inhibited	M = Multiprogrammable	S = Shocks
O = None	O = None	O = None	P = Simple Programmable	D = Dual (P & S)
---	---	---	O = None	---

*NBG = NASPE, North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology, and BPEG, British Pacing and Electrophysiology Group.

This page updated March 28, 2006

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