Tell your doctor if you gain weight, if your legs or ankles get puffy, or if you faint or get dizzy. Most pacemakers can be checked by your doctor remotely, which means you don't have to go into the doctor's office.
Your pacemaker sends information to your doctor, including your heart rate and rhythm, how your pacemaker is working, and how much battery life is left. Your pacemaker's battery should last 5 to 15 years. When the battery stops working, you'll need surgery to replace it. The procedure to change your pacemaker's battery is often quicker and requires less recovery time than the procedure to implant your pacemaker. If you have a pacemaker and become terminally ill with a condition unrelated to your heart, such as cancer, it's possible that your pacemaker could prolong your life.
Doctors and researchers vary in their opinions about turning off a pacemaker in end-of-life situations. Talk to your doctor if you have a pacemaker and are concerned about turning it off. You may also want to talk to family members or another person designated to make medical decisions for you about what you'd like to do in end-of-life care situations. Explore Mayo Clinic studies of tests and procedures to help prevent, detect, treat or manage conditions.
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Overview A pacemaker is a small device that's placed implanted in your chest to help control your heartbeat. A pacemaker is also called a cardiac pacing device. Cardiac resynchronization therapy. The heart's conduction system Open pop-up dialog box Close. The heart's conduction system The heart's natural pacemaker — the sinus node — produces electrical signals that prompt your heart to beat. Pacemaker Open pop-up dialog box Close.
Pacemaker A pacemaker is a device used to control an abnormal heart rhythm. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Pacemaker. American Heart Association. Accessed June 22, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. How the healthy heart works. All about heart rate pulse. Mulpuru SK, et al. Cardiac pacemakers: Function, troubleshooting, and management: Part 1 of a 2-part series.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Need Help? Contact Us. It stores and sends information about your heart for your doctor to review. A pacemaker can often be implanted with a minor surgery. Your pacemaker regularly checks its own battery.
Your doctor will also check the battery at your follow-up visits. What is Bradycardia? How Pacemakers Work. Your Pacemaker's Battery. Pacemaker Benefits. Pacemaker Risks. You may need a temporary short-term or permanent long-term pacemaker. A temporary pacemaker is normally inserted through a vein in the neck and remains outside your body. A permanent pacemaker is placed in your chest or abdomen.
This topic focuses on permanent pacemakers. To get a pacemaker, you may need to stay in the hospital for a few hours or overnight. Once you are back home, your doctor may check your pacemaker remotely and schedule regular visits with you to check its activity. Many people with pacemakers can return to their regular activities within a few days.
You may need to avoid certain electrical devices or devices that have strong magnetic fields. Explore this Health Topic to learn more about pacemakers, our role in research and clinical trials, and where to find more information.
Pacemakers use low-energy electrical pulses to control the rate and rhythm of your heartbeat. Traditional pacemakers send the electrical pulses through wires, also known as leads. Wireless pacemakers are a newer kind of pacemaker without wires. Traditional pacemakers also called transvenous pacemakers have three main parts. The device can send data to your doctor remotely. Your doctor will use these recordings to set up your pacemaker so it works better for you.
A traditional pacemaker generator is placed outside of your heart, either in your chest or abdomen. It is connected via wires to electrodes inside one to three heart chambers. Single- and double-lead pacemakers send pulses to the right side of the heart. A biventricular pacemaker sends pulses to both ventricles and an atrium. The pulses help coordinate electrical signaling between the two ventricles to help your heart pump blood.
This type of pacemaker is also called a cardiac resynchronization therapy CRT device. Wireless, or leadless, pacemakers are smaller than traditional types about the size of a large pill capsule. The pulse generator and electrodes are all in one device that is placed inside a chamber of your heart through a small tube inserted in one of your veins.
No surgery is needed. Once in place, the pacemaker then sends pulses to the right ventricle. Your doctor may recommend a wireless pacemaker if you have a slow heartbeat, or if you have an electrical block, which is when the flow of electricity to the heart is delayed between the upper and lower chambers of your heart.
Depending on the type, this kind of pacemaker may sense the right atrium upper chamber , which allows it to match the signals that it sends to the ventricle. This helps the two chambers beat in sync. In another type of pacemaker, the electrodes are placed on the surface of your heart rather than inside your heart.
This type of pacemaker requires surgery. Learn more about the different types of pacemakers in How Is a Pacemaker Placed?
Doctors also treat life threatening arrhythmias with a similar device called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator ICD. The device constantly tracks your heart rate.
If your heart shows an irregular and very fast rhythm, the ICD delivers an electric shock to reset your heart rhythm to prevent sudden cardiac arrest. Visit our Defibrillators Health Topic to learn more. Pacemakers are used to treat certain types of arrhythmia s , as well as heart failure , a condition that occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body. Not everyone with an arrhythmia needs a pacemaker. The most common reason people get a pacemaker is their heart beats too slowly called bradycardia , or it pauses, causing fainting spells or other symptoms.
In some cases, the pacemaker may also be used to prevent or treat a heartbeat that is too fast tachycardia or irregular. These problems may be caused by:. This can happen because of:. Before deciding to get a pacemaker, discuss your options with your doctor. You can bring along these and other questions you may have:. Children can outgrow their pacemakers. If your child needs a pacemaker, ask what will happen as they grow.
Tell your doctor if you have an allergy to medicines or latex and if you are taking blood thinners or other medicines. Before your procedure, make sure you and your doctor discuss the following questions. If you will get medicine to relax or sleep during the procedure, plan to have someone to take you home. You may go home the same day or after a few days, depending on the procedure and your health. Learn more about living with your pacemaker and how to check for problems.
The procedure may be planned ahead of time, or it may be done during an emergency temporary pacemaker. You will be given medicine to make parts of your body numb or make you sleep during the procedure. You may receive antibiotics to prevent infection and blood thinning medicine to prevent blood clots during the procedure.
Different types of pacemakers require different procedures to place them. Many traditional, and all temporary, pacemakers are transvenous pacemakers, meaning the wires and electrodes are threaded through your veins.
A doctor will thread the electrodes and wires through the veins in your neck, chest, or thigh, to the chambers of your heart. The electrodes are put in your heart muscle. The doctor may use echocardiography or X-ray to guide the process.
Once the wires are in place, your doctor will make a small cut into the skin of your chest or abdomen. He or she will slip the device with the generator just under the skin, then connect it to the wires that lead to your heart. Your doctor will test to see if it the device works properly and then sew the cut up. The entire surgery may take up to a few hours.
Watch the video below to learn more. This animation shows how a wired transvenous pacemaker is placed. You probably will not be allowed to move your arm for at least 12 hours after the procedure. This will help prevent disturbing the lead and the device and let your chest heal.
With epicardial pacemakers, the electrodes are attached to the surface of the heart rather than inside its chambers. This is a surgical procedure done under general anesthesia.
Your doctor will make a cut below your ribs or armpit to place the pacemaker. Epicardial pacemakers are used as a standard precaution during heart surgery. Wireless pacemakers are a newer type of pacemaker.
The pulse generator and electrodes are all in one small device that is placed inside the heart. A doctor will thread a tube called a catheter through a vein in your thigh up to your heart. The catheter moves the pacemaker using X-ray images to place it in a heart chamber.
The procedure often takes less than an hour, and you may be able to leave the hospital the same day. Typically, the recovery time is faster and the risk of infection is lower. The battery life of the device is between 8 and 13 years.
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