battery life

1. Should battery longevity increase if the pulse rate setting is reduced to the average pulse before pacemaker implantation (e.g., from 60 to 50 - my former average pulse)?
2. Can the pulse rate settings of the implanted pacemaker be changed by an external device?
3. If you had a transplant or replacement since 2010, what type of battery is installed in your pacemaker ?

3 Comments

Partial Answer

by ebfox - 2012-12-12 03:12:07

1. Your battery life is directly impacted by how many times you are paced. So if you paced 10 times less per minute, you would have longer battery life.

2. The external interface that is used in the doctor's office can change all the settings. Is your question perhaps related to the recent Homeland episode, where a terrorist hacked a guy's PM and shut it down? That is not possible unless the terrorist had access to the PM company's proprietary software AND had an interogation device sitting on the PM.

3. I do not know the answer to this question.

EB

battery life

by Tracey_E - 2012-12-12 04:12:10

1. Yes, if it works less it will last longer but how much you pace is only one of many factors that affect how long the battery lasts. Safety margins use up juice, and your leads, and how responsive your heart is... lots of factors.

2. Yep, that's what they do every time they check it. Can a random person do it with a laptop? Only in fiction.

3. Heart transplant or pm replacement? The batteries are built in, the whole lead generator is replaced so we have the newest technology along with a fresh battery.

I just googled "what type of battery does a pacemaker have" and the first result is DURACELL lolol, pretty sure my newest one is not duracell

check out this article
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1502062/

Answers

by golden_snitch - 2012-12-12 04:12:26

Hi!

1. Yes, if the pacemaker paces at a lower rate that will most likely safe some battery life. However, I'm not sure how much time that would buy you since the battery life depends on several parameters, and not only the programmed rate. Threshold is important, lead impedance, features switched on (for instance rate response or automatic threshold testing). So, in the end it could very well be that the battery does not last any longer than with a higher rate, because for instance the threshold increases over the years.

2. Yes, that can be changed during a routine pacemaker follow-up. If you haven't had one, yet, it's just putting something that looks like a computer mouse on the skin over your device. Doesn't hurt.

3. I think all batteries are Lithium batteries, there is no other type.

Best wishes
Inga

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