Question 1

what are pacemakers?

Accepted Answer

Speed up heart: If your heart is beating too slow, a pacemaker sends a small electric shock to the heart making it beat faster. There is a batery and some electronic circuits which tell the pacemaker when your heart beats too slow.

Question 2

what is a pacemaker?

Accepted Answer

Heart device.: A cardiac pacemaker is a device that is implanted in the chest to permanently regulate heartbeat rhythms. The pacemaker monitors the heartbeat to make sure it is not beating too slowly, and when necessary transmits electric pulses to the heart to increase the heartbeat pace. Pacemakers are periodically replaced every several years when the battery runs out.

Question 3

can a pacemaker expire?

Accepted Answer

Battery life: Pacemakers have a battery or generator life.  The device does not 'expire' but it does come to end of life and the generator or body of the pacemaker must be replaced.

Question 4

how to test a pacemaker?

Accepted Answer

Pacemaker clinic: You need to go to pacemaker clinic at a hospital where they will "interogate" it. You cannot do it by yourself.

Question 5

how are pacemakers placed?

Accepted Answer

Minor surgical proce: Pacemakers are placed in a cardiac cath or surgical suite with the visual guidance of fluoroscopy (x-ray  visualization).  A pacing lead is placed into the heart after access to a vein in the arm, groin, neck, chest is obtained.  Specific electrical parameters of the lead are checked, then the lead attached to a pacemaker often embedded in the upper chest wall, where small incision is made.

Question 6

what are fixed pacemakers?

Accepted Answer

Fixed rate: I assume you mean fixed rate pacemakers. We don't use them anymore. The very earliest pacemakers just fired at whatever rate you set them, once a second if you set the rate to 60. That lead to chaos if the patient's inherent heart rate was not always real slow. So they made pacemaker's which sense normal beats and only fire if the rate gets slow. They are inhibited when a heartbeat is sensed.

Question 7

how do pacemakers function?

Accepted Answer

Speed up heart: If your heart is beating too slow, wires are placed into the heart and hooked to a battery which sends an electrical impulse to the heart making it contract at a faster rate.

Question 8

what people need pacemakers?

Accepted Answer

HeartRhythm or block: The most common indicators for an implanted pacemaker are bradycardia (slow heart rate), tachycardia (fast heart rate) and heart block (when the heart stops beating for several seconds).

Question 9

what are pacemakers used for?

Accepted Answer

A few things...: Keeping the heart rate from going to slow - in heart block - preventing passing out, changing how the heart muscle contracts to prevent outlow tract obstruction - like in hocm, and occassionally to prevent people from passing out - like in severe neurocardiogenic syncope.

Question 10

are pacemakers made of metal?

Accepted Answer

Yes: Yes they have metal casings and electronic insides.

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