Cardiac Pacemakers Research Paper
Cardiac Pacemakers
The heart is bestowed with a specialized system that automatically generates rhythmic control via the sinus node, located in the superior lateral wall of the right atrium near the opening of the superior vena cava. The specialized pacemaker cells dictate control of the rest of the heart through regular electrical impulses that propagate from the right atria to the lower ventricles. The rapid conduction of these impulses cause the muscle cells of the atria to contract and squeeze blood into the ventricles, which contract and force blood into the aorta and pulmonary arteries. Abnormalities of the heart rhythm, called arrhythmias, can disrupt this normal cardiac control …show more content…
Tens of thousands of these devices are implanted each year in this country alone. Over the past thirty years cardiac pacemakers have evolved from simple devices only capable of fixed-rate stimulation of a single chamber of the heart to more sophisticated "implanted computers" that medical personnel can interrogate and reprogram from outside the patient 's body. These refinements have allowed for more physiologic pacing with maintenance of atrioventricular synchrony and cardiac output. There are various types of cardiac pacemakers available today that can be surgically implanted to treat specific arryhythmic disorders in the heart. Abnormal rhythms in the heart are one of the most frequent causes of heart malfunction, and in most cases necessitate some type of cardiac pacing unit. Cardiac arrhythmias are common in the elderly, in whom age-related physiologic changes often alter the conduction system of the heart. Such changes may remain asymptomatic, or they may progress to syncope, or possibly sudden death. In the event of acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmias are no more frequent in the elderly than in younger subjects; in fact, ventricular premature beats are seen less commonly …show more content…
The DDD pacemakers are found in patients who possess: AV block with or without sinus node dysfunction; or moderate sick sinus syndrome and AV nodal or His-Purkinje disease, with at least some ability to increase atrial rate with exercise. Surgical implantation of cardiac pacemakers has dramatically improved over the years. During the late 1950 's and early 1960 's when artificial pacing was first being implemented, patients with severe
Stokes-Adams attacks received some of the first battery operated pacemakers developed by William M. Chardack, chief of thoracic surgery at the Veterans
Administration hospital and his colleague Wilson Greatbatch. Physicians who implanted pacemakers in these patients reported numerous serious failures that required new operation: broken or dislodged leads, premature battery depletion, leakage of body fluids into the pulse generator. Yet despite the problems, pacemakers proved effective at giving people months or years of life that they would not otherwise have enjoyed. The operative procedure during this particular era was carried out under general anesthesia with an endotracheal tube in
The heart is bestowed with a specialized system that automatically generates rhythmic control via the sinus node, located in the superior lateral wall of the right atrium near the opening of the superior vena cava. The specialized pacemaker cells dictate control of the rest of the heart through regular electrical impulses that propagate from the right atria to the lower ventricles. The rapid conduction of these impulses cause the muscle cells of the atria to contract and squeeze blood into the ventricles, which contract and force blood into the aorta and pulmonary arteries. Abnormalities of the heart rhythm, called arrhythmias, can disrupt this normal cardiac control …show more content…
Tens of thousands of these devices are implanted each year in this country alone. Over the past thirty years cardiac pacemakers have evolved from simple devices only capable of fixed-rate stimulation of a single chamber of the heart to more sophisticated "implanted computers" that medical personnel can interrogate and reprogram from outside the patient 's body. These refinements have allowed for more physiologic pacing with maintenance of atrioventricular synchrony and cardiac output. There are various types of cardiac pacemakers available today that can be surgically implanted to treat specific arryhythmic disorders in the heart. Abnormal rhythms in the heart are one of the most frequent causes of heart malfunction, and in most cases necessitate some type of cardiac pacing unit. Cardiac arrhythmias are common in the elderly, in whom age-related physiologic changes often alter the conduction system of the heart. Such changes may remain asymptomatic, or they may progress to syncope, or possibly sudden death. In the event of acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmias are no more frequent in the elderly than in younger subjects; in fact, ventricular premature beats are seen less commonly …show more content…
The DDD pacemakers are found in patients who possess: AV block with or without sinus node dysfunction; or moderate sick sinus syndrome and AV nodal or His-Purkinje disease, with at least some ability to increase atrial rate with exercise. Surgical implantation of cardiac pacemakers has dramatically improved over the years. During the late 1950 's and early 1960 's when artificial pacing was first being implemented, patients with severe
Stokes-Adams attacks received some of the first battery operated pacemakers developed by William M. Chardack, chief of thoracic surgery at the Veterans
Administration hospital and his colleague Wilson Greatbatch. Physicians who implanted pacemakers in these patients reported numerous serious failures that required new operation: broken or dislodged leads, premature battery depletion, leakage of body fluids into the pulse generator. Yet despite the problems, pacemakers proved effective at giving people months or years of life that they would not otherwise have enjoyed. The operative procedure during this particular era was carried out under general anesthesia with an endotracheal tube in