What is a pacemaker?
A pacemaker is a battery powered, small device that is implanted in the chest that prevents the heart from beating too slow or irregularly. It sends painless electrical pulses to stimulate the heart muscle when it is required.
The most common use of this device is when a person’s heart beats too slowly or it pauses. This can cause shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting. Pacemakers also help the heart chambers beat in sync, improving blood flow if the heart isn’t pumping enough blood.
Who needs it?
Patients who have been diagnosed with heart rhythm disorder or arrhythmia are prescribed to have pacemakers.
How does it work?
Pacemaker can:
- Help speed up a slow heart rhythm (bradycardia)
- Stabilize irregular heartbeats (atrial fibrillation)
- Slow down rapidly beating heart (tachycardia)
- Support the heart to pump blood as it should under normal conditions
- Coordinates heartbeats between all the heart’s chambers
A doctor can run several tests to determine if the patient needs a pacemaker. Depending on the condition, the patient will be prescribed an electrocardiogram to measure the heart’s electrical activity, an echocardiogram to use sound waves for producing images to see the heart’s structure, size and motion, or Holter monitoring to track the heart’s rhythm through a small de ice that the patient has to wear.
The surgery
A pacemaker surgery normally lasts from one to two hours. The patient is given a mild sedative and stays awake during the procedure. Once the upper chest is numbed, an incision of two or three inches is made near the collarbone in order to gain access to a large vein. After this, a small pocket between the shoulder and chest is created in the skin and the pulse generator is inserted.
Through the large vein, the leads are connected to the pulse generator and these are attached to the heart’s surface with electrodes. The electrodes pick up natural electric signals of the heart. If the heartbeat is abnormal, the pulse generator will send a programmed pulse to the heart muscle, aiding in normalizing the situation.
The surgery has become quite regular and is more like a one-day procedure. The patient is asked to arrive in the morning and is sent home by late afternoon. While pacemakers are mostly safe, there are rare circumstances when complications can occur. These are excessive bleeding, infection, a punctured lung, a tear in the heart or even a blood clot.
Post surgery
A post-op checkup is scheduled after few weeks of rest and healing. After that the patient will have scheduled appointments in every three to six months and then only once in a year. These checkups are to make sure that the patient’s heart and the pacemaker are functioning properly. It is also checked if the battery is well charged.
Joyeeta Writes 