The PaceMaker
I. Introduction
Heart disease is among the leading causes of deaths each year. However, many people with heart problems are increasing their longevity with pacemakers. A pacemaker’s main purpose is to keep the heart from beating too slowly thereby preventing the problems associated with slow heart rhythms (passing out, congestive heart failure, and death). Pacemakers are necessary because, while there are many medications that prevent the heart from going too fast, there are only a handful that make the heart beat faster. Medications that speed the heart rate are poorly tolerated and often associated with serious side effects. Pacemakers have become a reliable means of helping people live longer and improve their lifestyles despite having a slow heart rhythm.
The body’s “natural” pacemaker is a small mass of specialized cells in the top of the right atrium, or chamber, of the heart. It produces the electrical impulses that cause a heart to beat. A chamber of the heart contracts when an electrical impulse or signal moves across it. For a heart to beat properly, the signal must travel down a specific path to reach the ventricles. Natural pacemakers may be defective, causing the heart to beat too fast, too slowly, or irregularly. There may also be a blockage of the heart’s electrical pathways. A pacemaker is a solution to these problems.
II. Technical Description
Patients require pacemakers for many different reasons. Most pacemakers are implanted to prevent the heart from beating too slowly0. Often, this slowness occurs because there is no cell in the heart that will beat fast enough to maintain proper function, or because there is a “block” somewhere in the electrical pathway which does not allow the electrical activity to spread to all of the necessary portions of the heart muscle. The underlying cause of this mishap may be scar tissue, most frequently from previous heart attacks. Sometimes it is simply caused by “aging” of the conduction system.
Pacemakers come in different shapes and sizes. All of them are small and lightweight. Depending on the patient’s heart condition, the physician will prescribe the number of chambers to be paced and a specific kind of pacing. A single-chamber pacemaker paces either the right atrium or the right ventricle with one lead. Single lead pacemakers are used pri...
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...ach manufacturer programs this function in a different but characteristic way. A certain “magnet rate” indicates the need for elective or immediate replacement for each model.
Although pacemakers are useful life-extending devices, they are not foolproof. Many precautions must be taken for patients with pacemakers, including: battery maintenance, avoiding microwaves, arc welding (which can create a high-energy field that can reprogram pacemakers), power-generating equipment, powerful magnets, and cellular phones.
References
Cunningham, David et. al. National Pacemaker Database. Grant from Medical Devices
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“Pacemaker.” Americanheart. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.
“Pacemaker Patients: Use the cell phone, but with caution.” Mayohealth. 22 May
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“Pacemakers.” HeartPoint. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.
Sgarbossa, Elena B, M.D. “Recognition of Pacemaker Failure.” ASCA. Internet
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“Vigor.” Guidant. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.
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