PACEMAKER AND BIVENTRICULAR DEFIBRILLATOR

These particular pacemakers (PM) and defibrillators (ICD) allow in selected patients a particular stimulation modality (called Biventricular or Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) which helps the heart to improve its pumping function.

In the normal heart, the electrical conduction system spreads the impulse to the left ventricle in a highly organized sequence, and the contraction that pumps blood out of the ventricle is very efficient. In some patients with heart failure caused by dilated cardiomyopathy (enlargement of the heart), this electrical coordination fails. Uncoordinated cardiac function leads to inefficient ejection of blood from the ventricles.

In patients with heart failure who have a delay in electrical activation in the ventricular chambers, a condition called bundle branch block, biventricular pacing coordinates ventricular contraction (cardiac resynchronization). In these cases, an additional catheter is used, so that both ventricles can be stimulated simultaneously and the contractile activity can be more homogeneous and synchronized. With biventricular pacing (cardiac resynchronization) the left and right ventricles are stimulated simultaneously, resynchronizing the muscle contraction and improving the efficiency of a weak heart. This therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of heart failure and could increase the survival of these patients.

• Increase in daily activities that the patient can perform without having symptoms of heart failure.

• Improving the quality of life.

• Changes in the anatomy of the heart that enhance its function.

• Reduction in the need for hospitalization for heart failure.