Cardiac Pacemakers
A pacemaker is a small, battery-operated device that is placed under the skin near the collar bone. It senses when your heart is beating irregularly or too slowly, and sends electrical signals to the heart, telling it to beat at a regular pace.
Pacemakers may be used for people who have heart problems that cause their heart to beat too slowly, a condition known as bradycardia. When the heart beats too slowly, your body and brain may not get enough oxygen. Symptoms may be light-headedness, tiredness, fainting, and shortness of breath.
Pacemakers may also be used to stop a heart rate that is too fast (tachycardia). Because the heart beats too often, it doesn’t have the time it needs to fill with blood between beats which can lead to the cells in your body not being supplied with the blood and oxygen they need. Symptoms may be heart palpitations, light-headedness, fainting, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
Biventricular Pacemakers are used in cases of severe heart failure. This type of pacemaker coordinates contractions of the heart’s lower chambers so that they work together to efficiently pump oxygen-rich blood through the body. Most biventricular pacemakers implanted today can also work as implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), which restore a normal heartbeat.
