Pacemakers and Antiarryhthmia Devices

B. Because of new guidelines, it is necessary to review the use of these devices in patients in which they are now being used, and carefully screen new patients to see if they would benefit from the devices.

A. The population that will benefit from this project is patients being considered for implantation with pacemakers and antiarrhythmia devices.

B. 1. The project is needed to ensure that these devices are not used unless appropriate, and are only used in accordance with the new guidelines.

2. Patients will be assessed according to the new guidelines

before being implanted with the devices, if they are deemed appropriate. NOTE - YOU WILL NEED TO INSERT SUPPORTING ASSESSMENT DATA - I DO NOT HAVE IT

The American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the North American Society for Pacing and Electrophysiology have issued new guidelines for implantation of cardiac pacemakers and antiarryhthmia devices (Morantz and Torrey, 2003). The new guidelines recommend pacing therapy for the following types of patients:

-adults with alternating bundlebranch block

-adults with syncope of unexplained origin when major abnormalities of sinus mode function are discovered or provoked in electrophysiologic studies

-adults with significantly symptomatic and recurrent neurocardiogenic sync

. . .
tion. Implantable cardiac pacemakers were first introduced in 1960, primarily for maintaining adequate heart rates in patients with symptomatic bradycardia (Kass, 2002). Single-ventricle stimulation was effective in these patients, though it was suboptimal physiologically. However, problems soon became apparent because ventricular pacing interrupted the normal temporal sequence of atrial-ventricular systole, causing AV-dissociation, mitral and cuspid valvular regurgitation, and cardiac cycles, leading to uneven filling and systolic dysfunction. For patients who were already suffering from compromised cardiac function, this only worsened their condition. Dual-chamber systems developed in the 1970s helped resolve these problems, and ventricular activation was timed to maintain more physiological coordination between the chambers (Kass, 2002). Dual-chamber pacing was shown to reduce the clinical symptoms of cardiac failure, enhance the quality of life, and help prevent arrhythmias. However, a study of 506 patients with a primary or secondary indication for implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) had to be terminated early when it was found that less than 10 percent of the subjects were found to have better results th
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Morantz Torrey, Houghton Kaye, AF Lau, , Plan Goals, Target Patients, Medical Journal, Pacing Electrophysiology, Lau C-P, kaye 2003, Medical Association, houghton kaye 2003, houghton kaye, atrial fibrillation, av block, cardiac pacemakers, ventricular fibrillation, kass 2002, heart disease, implantable devices, pacemakers antiarrhythmia devices, bundlebranch block, structural heart disease, implantation cardiac pacemakers, guidelines implantation cardiac,
Approximate Word count = 1207
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)