Chemistry in the News
Hanna Rich
2/25/14
Chemistry 1110
Chemistry in the News
Wireless Cardiac Defibrillator
The heart is an incredible muscle. Unlike the brain where a person can continue to be “alive” without any electrical activity, without a heartbeat, a person cannot live. The average person doesn’t ever think about how or why their hearts lub dub every minute of every day until they die. For someone whose heart doesn’t beat properly, the lub dub is a frequent worry.
Brandon England is one of those people. He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy putting him at risk for dangerous arrhythmias that could be fatal if not corrected quickly. He was implanted with an internal cardiac defibrillator, ICD for short, to help stop those arrhythmias almost instantaneously. Typically ICD’s need to have a direct connection to the heart to detect the heart’s rhythm. Those connections are called leads. Brandon’s IDC is different though. Its wireless and doesn’t require those leads that go to the heart. It’s the first of its kind to be implanted in Utah and will hopefully continue to be used to help prevent sudden cardiac arrest.
I’ve worked in a cardiac unit for the past three years and have been trained in identifying the various rhythms that the heart can have. In my training, I have learned that there are chemical reasons why the heart will behave in certain ways. The body needs to have a balance of electrolytes (substances that can conduct electricity) to function properly. This is especially important in the heart. Sodium is needed for the generation of electrical signals vital for movement. The heartbeat is generated through electrical impulses that tell the muscle to contract and relax. People that are in heart failure (and are often recipients of ICD’s) sometimes will get what is called fluid overloaded. That fluid overload can happen when sodium levels become too low and fluid accumulates in the limbs, around the lungs and even the heart because the heart is pumping
2/25/14
Chemistry 1110
Chemistry in the News
Wireless Cardiac Defibrillator
The heart is an incredible muscle. Unlike the brain where a person can continue to be “alive” without any electrical activity, without a heartbeat, a person cannot live. The average person doesn’t ever think about how or why their hearts lub dub every minute of every day until they die. For someone whose heart doesn’t beat properly, the lub dub is a frequent worry.
Brandon England is one of those people. He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy putting him at risk for dangerous arrhythmias that could be fatal if not corrected quickly. He was implanted with an internal cardiac defibrillator, ICD for short, to help stop those arrhythmias almost instantaneously. Typically ICD’s need to have a direct connection to the heart to detect the heart’s rhythm. Those connections are called leads. Brandon’s IDC is different though. Its wireless and doesn’t require those leads that go to the heart. It’s the first of its kind to be implanted in Utah and will hopefully continue to be used to help prevent sudden cardiac arrest.
I’ve worked in a cardiac unit for the past three years and have been trained in identifying the various rhythms that the heart can have. In my training, I have learned that there are chemical reasons why the heart will behave in certain ways. The body needs to have a balance of electrolytes (substances that can conduct electricity) to function properly. This is especially important in the heart. Sodium is needed for the generation of electrical signals vital for movement. The heartbeat is generated through electrical impulses that tell the muscle to contract and relax. People that are in heart failure (and are often recipients of ICD’s) sometimes will get what is called fluid overloaded. That fluid overload can happen when sodium levels become too low and fluid accumulates in the limbs, around the lungs and even the heart because the heart is pumping