Battery Life Depletion

Hi All,

My son had his first PM (Boston Scientific Advantio K063) on 10-Dec-2012 battery life was 9 years at the time. On Dec 2013 his PM interrogation showed a battery life of 6.5 years and Aug-2014 was 5 years. Today we had done another PM interrogation and his battery life is now showing 4.5 years. He is being paced 19% on the atrial and 100% on his ventricular with a pace threshold of 1.6V @ 0.5 ms.

Today his electro-physiologist/cardiologist said that his battery life is an estimated value and we should not be worried until the year 2019 for his next implant date.

I'm watching the trend of his battery depletion as it is not depleting within the estimated time after an interrogation is done but instead going from 0.5 to 1 to 1.5 yearly as compared in December 2013 to Aug 2014.During his PM interrogation no changes of such were made.

Can you please share your experience of such if any of you'll went through this?

Appreciate your feedback.

4 Comments

depletion

by Tracey_E - 2015-01-16 09:01:18

I'm on #4 now. I ignore everything they tell me until it gets down to a year or so. You can't follow a trend because there is no trend. The estimate is a guess based on the the settings on the day they do the report. So, change one setting and the estimate changes. It doesn't go down steadily like a tank of gas. It's more of a curve- it stays the same, stays the same, stays the same, something goes up (impedence? this is when the estimates get more accurate) then it starts to plummet.

Plummet is a bad word, but I can't think of a better one. It doesn't suddenly stop. At the end it has an elective replacement mode, which lasts about 3 months and it's still fully functional, think the gas light on your car. After that is end of life mode where it cuts back all the bells and whistles and paces at a steady 60 bpm. If we pace a lot this doesn't feel good, but it's safe, and it also lasts 3 months. I've had all of my replacements done before it hit this point. I've always had plenty of time to schedule it at my convenience.

How much we pace has little to do with battery life. Pacing threshold makes a difference as well as condition of the leads, safety margins, and a million other things.

Know that replacements are super easy, so it's really not a big deal one if you squeeze out another year or two. Most of the restrictions are from the new leads, most of the pain is from the new pocket. None of this with replacements.

Monitor

by bridger54 - 2015-01-16 10:01:24

Is your son on a home monitor? That also takes energy and depletes the PM.

Monitor?

by PJinSC - 2015-01-19 03:01:34

bridger54, are you sure? I have a home monitor, and it is a receiver and telephone. The PM is always transmitting, whether the monitor picks it up or not. I could not find anywhere that says it makes the PM "work" harder when interrogated by the monitor. Interesting. Will have to ask my device nurse next exam.

Monitor

by bridger54 - 2015-01-19 05:01:04

Generator change outs sound easy and in truth are not terribly complicated. However they are not something entered into lightly. Your risk of having problems: something along these lines.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/122/16/1553.full

Devices are advertised to have extremely long battery lives. However through poor attention to detail, excess battery usage can occur through poor programming. You need a good tech to tailor your use. Also, yes, the device must transmit the data, that take energy. The more often you transmit, the greater the draw. Just a fact. Your cardiologist will determine what and how often he wants the information. Get a good tech to talk to you outside of earshot. Nothing to fear, just smart planning. Best of luck.

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