Adapta DR battery life

I had my first PM implanted in Feb. 1996. The battery lasted 11 years. It was replaced with a Medtronics Adapta DR in Jan 2007. At the time I was told all about the improvements made to the new pacemakers including a longer battery life. I was surprised last week when I was told that the battery life on my new PM was about 4 years!! I now have to get it replaced in about 2 years. I was told by my tech. that she had a patiant in the week before that had his implanted 3 months AFTER mine and his battery life was down to a month!!!
I think we are about to hear that the Medtronics Adapta's have a problem with battery like that is just starting to show up now.
If you have a Medtronics Adapta please have the battery life checked and report your findings here.
Thanks,
Don

5 Comments

battery life

by winelover - 2009-09-28 04:09:08

My first battery lasted 9 years ( I am 100% paced, so not bad at all) and when I got the new Adapta DR in Nov. of 2006 I was told it probably would not last as long as the previous one. I do the phone checks so I don't know how many years/months it has left, but I trust my technician to tell me if it is getting close.
It will be interesting to know if the battery last a lot shorter.
On the pos. side - the Adapta is working really well for me, I have no problems and never have to have any settings changed.

battery life

by aldeer - 2009-09-28 06:09:50

My Medronic adapta adsro1 was put in Aug 07 and last check in July shows battery life remaining 6 years...works great.

battery life

by Jaybee - 2009-09-29 01:09:23

I have Medtronics Adapta ADSR-01 implanted in Feb 08,interrogation in July 09 shows balance battery life is 7.5 years.
Jaybee.

Battery

by helen938 - 2009-09-29 06:09:40

Do you have to be under sedation to have battery replaced??? Just wondering

battery life

by golden_snitch - 2009-09-30 03:09:15

Hi!

That sounds strange. What I was wondering: What is your atrial and ventricular threshold (how strong does the pacer impulse have to be to get your heart beating)?

Some patients have a high threshold, either because of scaring around the tip of the pacer lead or scars from heart surgeries, or because of pacer lead problems. Their pacers, therefore, need to pace with a high voltage, and that drains a lot of battery life.
A friend of mine had a ventricular threshold of 7.0V (mine is 1.0) because of scaring. Well, he didn't have that when his pacer was implanted but over the years he developed the scaring and the threshold went up.

A high threshold would explain why a battery doesn't last as long as projected.

Another question: You wrote that you got the pacer in 2007, and that you have been told last week that the battery life was 4 years. But then you said that you need to have it replaced in two years. Maybe I got something wrong, but if you have had it for two years, and battery life now is four years, you would end up with six years, and there would be no need to replace it in two years. Now, six years is of course not that much compared to the 11 you've had before, but with all the fancy features the Adapta has, six years might be normal. A pacer implanted in 1997 didn't have all these functions, and therefore needed less energy.

Just my two cents worth.
Best wishes
Inga

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