Biventricular pacemaker

Greetings pacemaker friends,

I have had a dual lead Medtronic pacemaker for 8 years(brachardia, low heart rate, fainting).  It has worked well.  Over the past ten years my ejection fraction has been going down, now at 40%.  My cardiologist and pacemaker doctor have reviewed my results(echocardiogram) and have suggested that I have a biventricular pacemaker to help with heart failure and possible increase my ejection fraction.  They have scheduled me for a St. Judes bilventricular pacemaker and one new lead(will now be 3 lead).

Anyone have experience with these or have went from a dual to biventricular? 


2 Comments

No but

by AgentX86 - 2019-07-08 12:45:40

A biventricular pacemaker is the answer to pacemaker induced cardiomyopathy. A His pacemaker is newer technology but also very promising. But since you have the two leads, the third isn't usually a big problem (the other two can be reused). Do have someone who has done hundreds of these do the surgery, though. Getting the third lead in the right spot can be tricky.

BTW, I started out with biventricular PM to avoid this problem later.

yes

by ROBO Pop - 2019-07-08 13:11:33

Been there, done that, got a whole wardrobe.

You appear to be in the early stages of heart failure (EF 40%) HOWEVER LET ME SUGGEST. Sorry for the csps. Enquire about getting a CRT-D. Thats a bi-ventricular defibrillator which has a built in fully functional pacemaker. The advantage is a defibrillator also will protect you from SCA (sudden cardiac arrest) and other fatal issues that can ruin your day. Additionally, it has ATP (anti-tachycardia pacing) which can lead to fatal episodes. ATP overdrives when your heart goes onto ventricular tachycardia (fast) heart rate in the ventricles.

Ask your doctor. Insurance may not cover because your EF is still higher than the target but it might be worth asking to save another surgery in the short term

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