Just a coment

comment

by The real Patch - 2017-08-22 12:59:34

I'm sorry but I'm afraid you are a bit confused. Fibrillation is not sudden cardiac arrest. Fibrillation is a siutation where the heart is ebating so fast and erractic that it's actually quivering and therefore not ejecting blood into the body which will result in arrest if not resolved. A Defibrillator, ICD,  or CRT-D senses the erractic heart and provides therapy. The therapy which is a shot of electricity stuns the heart and then it goes back into a rhythm (hopefully). However an implanted Defibrillator is not used for sudden cardiac arrest as it must sense an arrhythmia to trigger therapy. When the heartg stops, it is sensed as a slow heart beat and the pacemaker kicks in to pace the heart. It may not restart the heart if there is too much damage or it has not gotten oxygen for too long. This is where the term Youn can't beat dead meat comes from.

So really the answer is...depends, and not the kind you wear

Cardiac arrest

by TAC - 2017-08-22 17:03:33

Come on, let's think about more positive things. It's true that none of us is going to live to eternity, but why worry about that now?

Ok but,then...

by Ileen - 2017-08-22 18:01:02

So, I am kinda wrong and right!If your heart if filibrating ,it is quivering, so maybe the pacemaker will help ,but not according to my EP . He says you need a Defib machine implanted. ( or have paddles or CPR and that may work) I dont really think if your heart is fibrating(sp) a pacemaker will work all that well! I  am confused and tired!! But thank you for the answer !!!

Postive thoughts

by Lurch - 2017-08-22 22:22:22

Just like Stephen Hawking, I plan to live forever; so far, so good...

??

by The real Patch - 2017-08-23 14:41:28

I've enjoyed one too many SCA's myself, so my mind isn't what it once was...hopefully this will clarify a little further.

When your heart is in fibrillation it is still beating (known as rhythm) but it is very erractic and shaking, not fully squeezing. As you said the pacemaker will not help with that, in fact it won't even be activated. The defibrillator will provide therapy before the heart stops. Ironically the Jesus Jolt it provides stuns the heart for an instant and the heart stops. However, the electrical nodes normally will start sending pulses again and the heart goes back into a normal rhythm (beat).

Without the defibrillator, your heart will either go into sudden cardiac arrest (No Rhythm aka flat line) or it will self resolve. If you lose rhythm the pacemaker function sees that as Brady Cardia with missed beats and begins stimulating the heart muscle to beat at 60bpm or whatever rate they have your pacer set at. There is a new number out there but basically, between 10 and 25% of people who go into Sudden Cardiac Arrest survive without intervention either external or an implamnted device.

The longer the delay in receiving stimulous the less likely your heart will revive.

Cardiac arrest

by TAC - 2017-08-23 19:03:04

A cardiac arrest occurs when the is a sudden malfunction of the electric system of the heart that makes its pumping action ineffective, usually ventricular fibrillation is the culprit. A regular pacemaker will not stop the ventricular fibrillation, as a matter if fact, pacemakers cannot stop any arrhythmia. Pacemakers only maintain the heart pumping action as normal as posible in spite of the arrhythmia, as long as the myocardium responds to the tinny electrical signals send by the PM. Ventricular fibrillation which is a killer, only responds to a very strong electrical discharge from a defribrillator, not a pacemaker. That means that only pacemakers equipped with defibrillators can stop cardiac arrest or sudden death. Not every patient requieres a defibrillator, only those diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia because is the one that leads to ventricular fibrillation. Atrial arrythmias do not.