bvp pacemaker

my question is if anyone has any experience with this! my husband is now 43 and had 3 degree heartblock and a pm put in in2008.. now developed pm induced cardiomyopathy with ef at 20 percent...has had a biventricular pacemaker with a defibulator put in... the ep doc has said sees this in a handful of patients.. we went to see a cardiologist that's for heartfailure and is doing a echo in a month... anyone had there ef return to normal ?

3 Comments

Right ventricular pacing & heart failure

by golden_snitch - 2014-04-13 01:04:36

I'm sorry to hear that your husband is one of those patients in whom this happened. Heart failure induced by right ventricular pacing (mostly "apical" pacing, so in the apex of the right ventricle) unfortunately is a well known complication. It has been observed often enough to even make all pacemaker manufacturers develop special modes/features to reduce the amount of right ventricular pacing to an absolute minimum.

In a friend of mine, the EF went up from around 27% to 40%-45% after the bi-ventricular pacemaker was put in. Her heart failure was not completely pacemaker induced, but the fact that the ventricles were beating out of sync made matters worse. She now has to take the typical medications for heart failure patients, and with those and the help of the bi-ventricular pacemaker her EF has never dropped again; she is stable since about 10 years! Hope your husband will take the same route.

Best wishes

Inga



ef and pacemakers

by me2 - 2014-04-13 06:04:49

I was give a CRT-D in 2010. My EF was 15% Two years later it was 60%, in the normal range. Of course I took all the drugs prescribed, exercised daily, etc. My surgeon thought maybe my cardiopahthy was from a virus......."we're seeing a lot of that lately" Who knows. I continue to exercise, take my drugs, eat carefully, etc. and am otherwise ok.

Not pacemaker induced

by Grateful Heart - 2014-04-13 09:04:02

I still have my one and so far only Bi-V CRT-D.

I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, SSS, LBBB an enlarged heart and an EF of 24% 5 years ago.

My heart is no longer enlarged and my EF is now 50% (which is considered the low side of normal) and has been for the past 4 years or so.

Like me2 and Inga's friend, I also take the drugs as prescribed and exercise 4-5 times a week.

I just wanted to add to the other's comments that this is possible and to wish your Husband well.

Grateful Heart

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