Wondering

I'm on my 3rd pacemaker in almost 20 years and am always mindful to ask questions if I don't understand something during pacemaker interrogations but one thing I've noticed on the printout is "no episodes." What exactly does that mean? I did ask once and the technician said cardiac episodes, but what constitutes a cardiac episode on a pacemaker?

2 Comments

Good News !

by IAN MC - 2014-09-30 05:09:29

High ERER First of all "no episodes" is good, having episodes may be bad. If you are showing a consistent regular heart rhythm then the PM will record no episodes.

My understanding is that the term "episodes" refers to the number of recorded incidences of atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia or ventricular tachycardia. If the episodes are very infrequent and don't last for long then they MAY be nothing to worry about.

Episode recording by a PM is not considered to be as accurate as those recorded by ECGs but do act as a warning if all is not well.

Ian

episodes

by Tracey_E - 2014-09-30 09:09:40

No episodes is good, it means your heart is behaving itself. Having episodes isn't necessarily bad. An episode is anything of interest that the pm records. Most of my recorded episodes are pvc runs or bumping my upper limit while exercising. Both are harmless.

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