Pacing

On recent visit to Doctor, he mentioned I was pacing 75% of the time. Does that mean my pacemaker is working 75 % of the time and my heart is working 25% of the time.

Bob

2 Comments

It's like this...

by chip - 2009-05-25 11:05:48


Very simply put yes – but like TraceyE says your heart is working 100% of the time.

A pacemaker performs two basic functions sensing and pacing. When the device senses, from a predetermined setting, that your heart’s electrical system has not initiated a beat it sends an electrical impulse or signal for the heart to beat. That does not necessarily mean that your heart would not have beat anyway; only that it is not beating with the regularity your pacemaker settings dictate. Hence your need for the device.

Your doctor’s statement that you’re pacing 75% of the time needs further clarification but I would assume that he means overall your pacemaker is initiating a beat 75% of the time.

It would be better to know what percentage of the time your device is pacing the atrial and what percentage it is pacing the ventricle. (If you have a dual chamber pacemaker as most folks do)

You could look at it this way – For every 100 beats 75 of them are being initiated by your device.

A good article that simply explains pacemaker operation can be found here: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/pace/pace_howdoes.html

numbers

by Tracey_E - 2009-05-25 11:05:56

Your heart is working all of the time :o) It means that 75% of the time, the pm is generating the pulse that makes the heart beat.

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