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Pacemaker
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Everyone has heard of pacemakers, but most
people don't know what an important role a pacemaker can
play in maintaining a healthy heart and lifestyle. |
An artificial pacemaker is a small, battery-operated device that
can actually take over the role of the heart's electrical system
when needed. It consists of the wire, or the lead electrode system,
and the pacemaker or device itself.
The population for pacemaker implantation is not limited to age, sex
or race. There are approximately 100,000 pacemakers implanted yearly
in the United States, and they may be prescribed for a variety of
conditions.
Bradycardia is the most common rhythm problem that is associated
with pacemaker implantation. This is when the heart becomes too
slow, and patients have symptoms such as shortness of breath,
fatigue, dizziness, or even fainting spells can occur.
Atrial fibrillation is a very common heart rhythm disorder in which
the upper chambers of the heart beat erratically and chaotically and
rather fast, and sometimes it's also too slow.
Heart failure is a condition in which the heartbeat cannot meet the
normal volume of blood and oxygen to supply all parts of the body.
Syncope, also known as a common faint or passing out, is usually
less severe, but can occur frequently in patients.
Surgery is usually the next step to regaining a healthy
heartbeat.
A pacemaker is put in under local anesthesia. So we make a tiny
incision in the chest, and the actual procedure itself lasts 45
minutes to an hour and a half, depending upon what is done. This is
certainly not open-heart surgery. It's very simply done.
Implanting a pacemaker has very little risks associated. But
however, whenever there is a surgical procedure, complications can
arise. One of the complications that can happen in the early
postoperative phase can be bleeding at the incision and sometimes it
will cause a hematoma or a little blood clot over the pulse
generator and some bruising.
Rarely, a lead can become dislodged or displaced, and the patient
would have to go back to have the lead repositioned by the physician
The complication rate is very, very acceptable, considering the
tradeoff of the wonderful things the pacemaker does.
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