PaceMaker Essay -- medical health heart disease

The PaceMakerI. Introduction Heart disease is among the leading causes of deaths each year. However, many people with flavour problems atomic number 18 increasing their longevity with pacemakers. A pacemakers main purpose is to keep the amount of money from billing too relaxly thereby preventing the problems associated with slow means rhythms (passing out, congestive heart failure, and death). Pacemakers are necessary because, while there are many medications that prevent the heart from going too fast, there are only a handful that make the heart beat faster. Medications that speed the heart rate are poorly tolerated and often associated with serious side effects. Pacemakers commence become a reliable means of helping people live longer and improve their lifestyles despite having a slow heart rhythm. The bodys natural pacemaker is a small mass of specialized cells in the top of the remediate atrium, or chamber, of the heart. It produces the electric impulses th at cause a heart to beat. A chamber of the heart contracts when an electrical impulse or signal moves across it. For a heart to beat properly, the signal must travel down a specific path to reach the ventricles. Natural pacemakers may be defective, causing the heart to beat too fast, too slowly, or irregularly. There may similarly be a blockage of the hearts electrical pathways. A pacemaker is a solution to these problems. II. Technical Description Patients require pacemakers for many diametric reasons. Most pacemakers are implanted to prevent the heart from beating too slowly0. Often, this slowness occurs because there is no cell in the heart that will beat fast enough to maintain proper function, or because there is a block somewhere in the electrical pathway which does not allow the electrical activity to spread to all of the necessary portions of the heart muscle. The underlying cause of this mishap may be scar tissue, most frequently from previous heart attacks. Someti mes it is simply caused by aging of the conduction system. Pacemakers come in different shapes and sizes. All of them are small and lightweight. Depending on the patients heart condition, the physician will prescribe the number of chambers to be paced and a specific kind of pacing. A single-chamber pacemaker paces either the right atrium or the right ventricle with one lead. Single lead pacemakers are used pri... ...ach manufacturer programs this function in a different but characteristic way. A sure magnet rate indicates the need for elective or immediate replacement for each model. Although pacemakers are useful life-extending devices, they are not foolproof. Many precautions must be taken for patients with pacemakers, including battery maintenance, avoiding microwaves, arc welding (which can create a high-energy field that can reprogram pacemakers), power-generating equipment, powerful magnets, and cellular phones. ReferencesCunningham, David et. al. National Pace maker Database. portion from Medical Devices Agency and The Department of Health. United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 1996 1997. Pacemaker. Americanheart. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.Pacemaker Patients Use the cell phone, but with caution. Mayohealth. 22 May 1997. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008. Pacemakers. HeartPoint. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.Sgarbossa, Elena B, M.D. Recognition of Pacemaker Failure. ASCA. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.Vigor. Guidant. Internet Explorer. Telnet. 17 Feb. 2008.