Pacemaker

Ejection Fraction 45-50 Normal

by KonaLawrence - 2019-07-30 21:56:21

Hi Cans,
If you google a bit you will find that an ejection fraction of 45-50 is ok.  The maximum for young healthy people is 55-65.   If you're older or just abit different than the average, 45-50 is an ok number.  I don't know of any way a pacemaker could have any effect on the ejection fraction.  Even with a low battery it works exactly the same, initiating a heart beat when needed.  The low battery indication means it will last another 6 months or so before going into power saving mode and then keep working another 3 months.  Should be plenty of time to get a new battery.

A stress test is often part of routine cardiology tests.  You might consider writing down all your questions and get your cardiologist to answer each of them.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/ejection-fraction/expert-answers/faq-20058286

Cheers, Lawrence

EF

by RedRocksGirl - 2019-07-31 20:04:23

I know several people with EFs as low as the 20s and one lower than that.

I was diagnosed with heart failure with an EF of 35% (and was put on meds to try and strengthen the heart and increase the EF) it got up to 40% and my cardilogist was good with that percentage, even though she said it's still considered "borderline heart failure", she said most people can keep going for quite a while (whatever that means) at 40%. Fast forward two years and my EF was at 31% and I was becoming more and more ill so she said I needed an ICD at that point or I risked sudden death. I got my ICD put in this past January and my EF went from 31% to 38% two months later. She's hopeful that over time I can get back into a normal range of EF with the ICD. So yes, a pacemaker/ICD can improve your EF - I suppose depending on what your heart diagnosis is.

My heart beat was so jumbled, chambers were out of synch and having to work so hard just to get any blood pumped out. I could feel EVERY SINGLE BEAT, my heart felt like it was comong out of my chest. Super uncomfortable. With the ICD I dont feel it at all and muscle fatigue etc are gone so I know the ICD increasing the EF has helped with increasing oxygen delivery. It's so great to feel good again!

not bad

by dwelch - 2019-08-06 03:32:14

after almost 30 years of pacing my EF was going down slowly, when it dropped below 40 then we started to have the talk to switch from a single V lead to biventrical, which did work and not only stopped the drop but brought it up.  Other things can cause it to drop but being paced on one side is uneven and eventually your heart doesnt like it.  Pacers dont always fix the EF,  45-50 is not that big of a deal, another 10 points lower starts to become an issue.  But even after 15 years of a single lower lead they can/should start doing annual echos, if they do stress tests, fine.  They did a chemical stress test (the stress test clinic was under the impression that putting me on a treadmill would work, cant get past my upper limit, should have know that before I arrived not after, gotta love it) to rule out something.

Its just a test, the chemical ones aint no thing, if they want to do one every year, you probably have a good doc and or insurance to pay for it.  Go for it...if they want to collect more data, thats good.