Biotronik vs Medtronic

Diagnosis SSS. Hx of syncope. I ve been fighting pm quite awhile now. Was sent to world renown specialist DR Grubb, who spent 3.5 hours with me. Anyway long story short...he is suggesting Biotronik pm which also monitors blood pressure. I live in Fl My cardio here uses medtronics, although he sent me to Ohio to see Dr Grubb. Dr Grubb is willing to take me on as a patient and do surgery. Does anyone know the pros and cons of Biotronik s Medtronic. I will also feel funny/bad changing doctors (my issue though cause I do want the best) Any information would be great! Im 48 have hx of passing out since age 11 months old. Thank you Lee

6 Comments

I have had both

by ksig - 2012-09-26 03:09:26

My initial pacer was a Biotronik and had it for 5 years. It was implanted under an emergency situation. Since it was implanted in a different city than the one I live in a different electrophysiologist did the procedure. Biotronik is a very good pacer. My only concern was that my regular cardiology office did not have much experience with that brand. Every time I had to have it interrogated, the company rep came to do it. I loved working with the rep who was very knowledgeable and spent time educating me to my new world of pacing. The Biotronik remote monitoring is superb. The "telephone" sat on my nightstand and downloaded the information from my pacer every night at 2:00AM. I had to do nothing. It picked up the data while I was sleeping! My only complaint was that my P waves are so small that the Biotronic pacer had a difficult time with mode switching, thus creating a problem for me. As the battery life wore down, it was time to change out the pacer. My electrophysiologist switched pacers and I now have a Medtronic. The mode switching operates flawlessly. My electrophysiologist's office has no difficulty doing the interrogations and generally I feel better now. The Medtronic remote monitoring is archaic compared to the Biotronik but it works and does the job. It is more mechanical and I have to plug it in to the telephone line. I only transmit once a month now.

I travel 100 miles on way to see my electrophysiologist so I needed a brand that he was comfortable in using and did the trick for me. After his research, it was Medtronic that fit the bill. I have had my Medtronic pacer for 2.5 years now. Hopefully, the battery will last at least 5 more years.
ksig

Tracy

by kat97 - 2012-09-26 11:09:25

I live on the west coast in Spring hill. Thank you for your reply I will have to check with my current cardio for sure I am assuming he just does medtronics

medtronic vs biotronik

by Tracey_E - 2012-09-26 11:09:50

They are both excellent companies that make good pm's so you really can't go wrong with either one. It sounds like Biotronik has some bells and whistles that may help you but Medtronic has helped thousands of patients with SSS. The biggest downside to Biotronik is it's a smaller company so it can be harder to find someone to monitor it. Medtronic is the largest manufacturer so anywhere you go it will be easy to find someone to check it if needed. I would start by looking for someone local who can monitor the Biotronik, it's not practical to travel to Ohio every time you need it checked. Does your local dr only do Medtronic? Most of them have a preference but tend to work with all of them. Mine does all brands. I have St Judes, btw.

What part of FL are you in? I'm in the Palm Beach area.

SSS with chronotopic incompetence?

by golden_snitch - 2012-09-27 04:09:43

Hi!

Do you have SSS that also causes chronotopic incompetence (heart rate doesn't increase properly with exercise)? If you do suffer from that, and are or want to be active, I'd not go for any of the suggested pacemakers, but ask the cardio about a pacemaker that has a dual-sensor rate response with accelerometer plus minute ventilation sensor. Two companies have this: Boston Scientific and Sorin. In patients with chronotopic incompetence, the rate response features of a pacemaker are probably the most important ones. If the pacemaker doesn't respond to exercise appropriately, you'll have quite some limitations in your daily life.

Has your cardio been talking about a Biotronik pacer with so-called Closed-Loop Stimulation (CLS)? That is a special type of rate response sensor, but to be honest, I have heard nothing good about it. It's supposed to react not only to physical exercise, but also to mental stress. My cardio said he had to switch this feature off in all patients he implanted such a pacer in, because this feature made their heart beat too fast all the time. Also, the upper rate limit with CLS is 165bpm while most other pacemakers can do at least 180bpm, some even 220.

Best wishes
Inga

Pro Biotronik

by JustKrs - 2012-09-29 12:09:51

I have a biotronik and i love it.

a. overnight wireless monitoring. as explained earlier, it sits on my nightstand anywhere in the country and overnight transmits usage data and any errors or problems to biotronik. if theres anything wrong my cardiologist is notified immediately. no waiting for an appointment to know that something might not be quite right.

b. CLS - works great for me. Biotronik's methods mean that not just the frequency is tracked (aka the pulse rate), but also the impedance of the electrical signal (which tells us things about changes in how the heart is beating, like if the blood pressure is changing suddenly, or sudden changes in exertion or mental stresses).
CLS is quite literally a life saver for folks whose issue is not just their heart beating to slow, but a combination of symptoms... such as those like me with syncope. It can detect the sudden changes in the cardiac system even before things change so much that the pulse drops to low. A regular pacemaker wouldnt kick in for me till i was already on the floor - the Biotronik keeps me standing and not feeling any of the changes. It's a life changer!

From what I've heard CLS is can be really hard to tweak, you want the person interrogating your pacemaker and editing any settings being a person that has a lot of experience - so either a cardio office that uses them a lot or getting to know your local biotronik rep really well.

Ultimately... everyone on here, anyone with a pacemaker, falls into the category of folks whose hearts are not the norm. That said... see a specialist! see a couple! Do whatever you need to do in order to make sure that you know that your making the right choice for you!!

Cls

by Jam - 2021-02-23 20:33:39

I had CLS turned on and was feeling good for a couple of weeks. Recently I have had fast heart beating at times with a feeling I am not getting enough oxygen. Also have dizzness and a feeling of weakness! The RN at my cardio office handles the device checks! I am wondering if she is really fully qualified because she has done 6 adjustments and I am still not doing good!

 

 

 

 

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