Biventricular Pacemaker Improves Quality of Life for Patients
From BestHealth, November 2004
James M. Reed, 84, worked for 30 years in a Pennsylvania steel mill before retiring with his wife Ester to her family’s farm in Tobaccoville. The years had taken their toll on Reed’s health.
Among other ailments, he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure and was recovering from a stroke.
Last spring, Reed was admitted to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center complaining of worsening shortness of breath.
“He was irritable and wasn’t sleeping well,” said Ester, his wife of 51 years with whom he had raised two sons and was now enjoying the pleasure of having two grandchildren. “He would wake up during the night and couldn’t breathe.”
Reed was prescribed a biventricular pacemaker. The device is used to improve cardiac output in patients with heart failure and ventricular conduction abnormalities.
The Heart Center at Wake Forest Baptist was the first in North Carolina to offer patients with severe heart failure this device, the first approved to treat severe heart failure. The device is having a significant impact on quality of life for patients such as Reed.
“Oh, my, we’re so pleased,” said Ester. “He’s sleeping through the night now, and I can get some sleep too.”
Arrhythmias—abnormal heart rhythms—are common conditions affecting millions of Americans. In fact, the American Heart Association estimates that as many as two million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation alone. Arrhythmias include tachycardias (the heartbeat is too fast), bradycardias (the heartbeat is too slow), and “true” arrhythmias (a disturbed rhythm).
Arrhythmias can be life-threatening if they cause a severe decrease in the pumping function of the heart. When the pumping function is severely decreased for more than a few seconds, blood circulation is essentially stopped, and organ damage (such as brain damage) may occur within a few minutes.
Specialists in electrophysiology (EP) at Wake Forest Baptist’s Heart Center have a wide array of sophisticated equipment to detect, treat and even cure complicated arrhythmias—even atrial fibrillation.
“The Heart Center has a large multidisciplinary team to manage patients with intractable or medically unresponsive atrial or ventricular arrhythmias, abnormalities in the "electrical" conducting systems that regulate cardiac rate and rhythm,” said David M. Fitzgerald, M.D., medical director of the Heart Center’s EP Lab. “With state-of-the-art procedures and equipment, we specialize in cardiac arrhythmias and arrhythmia-related problems, including tachycardias, bradycardias, syncope, cardiac arrest, and disorders associated with high risk of sudden death.”