Seeking Medtronic Insynch III feedback

Hello!

My boyfriend's EP has recommended this model, and he's getting it implanted on Monday. His last two PM's have been St. Jude's, which have been lemons in terms of battery life.

Would love any feedback anyone has on the Medtronic, espcially for a young, active person.

Thank you!

Best,
Katy

3 Comments

Battery Life

by SMITTY - 2008-07-18 01:07:50

Hi Katy

The lifetime of the battery is usually 4 to 8 years, but really depends greatly on how often every hour and every day the heart uses the pacemaker.

I have a Medtronic pacemaker, Model KDR 703, that was implanted in 2000 and last week I was told I have an "expected remaining battery life" of 1.5 to 2.0 years. Since determining remaining battery life is not an exact science, who knows when I'll have to get a new PM.

But to emphasize, battery life is strictly a function of how much a pacemaker assists with maintaining the desired heart rhythm for a particular patient. For those that use their pacemaker 100% of the time then you can expect their battery life to be shorter than that for a person that an on demand PM and it has to help out with the heart rhythm only 10% of the time.

In my case, for the first 5 years my PM was on line an average of about 5% to the time (I still do not think I needed one then) but for the last 3 years it has been assisting the atrial about 60% of the time and assisting the ventricle about 22% of the time. At least that is what the checkup printouts show. I never know when it is, or is not, helping my heart.

I have not heard of any particular brand having a longer or shorter battery life. It will be interesting to see if you get responses from St. Jude PM wearers telling how long their batteries are lasting.

I wish your boyfriend the best,

Smitty

I have st judes

by Tracey_E - 2008-07-18 02:07:32

How long is he getting out of a battery? I've averaged 5-7 yrs from my St Judes pacers, I don't think that's much different from any other brand. I am 100% paced with the ventricle but only 4-5% with the atrial. As Smitty said, it depends on how much you use it.

Battery life also can depend on the safety settings. If you are otherwise healthy, very stable, and very consistent in the pacer usage, they can use smaller safety margins to increase battery life.

I have an impeded lead right now, that is taking a big chunk out of my battery life. Think of the refrigerator running but the door open- it still cools but it uses up a lot more electricity. I've only had this battery two years and I've only got a year to a year and a half left.

Medtronic

by ElectricFrank - 2008-07-19 12:07:10

My only experience is with Medronic. I have found the Medtronic reps to be very personable and competent. My checkups are all done by the rep.
As for battery life as some of the others have mentioned it depends on settings. The 5-8 years is a good norm. To give some idea on the effect of settings, I had a virus that affected my hearts sensitivity to pacing. It required turning up the voltage to my ventricle lead to assure consistent pacing. After turning the voltage up from 2 volts to 5 volts my projected battery life dropped from 5 years to 2 1/2 years. After a few weeks when I was over the virus I insisted on a checkup and was able to have the voltage turned back down. Now I am showing a 5 year life again.
The moral of the story is that settings can have a dramatic effect. I make it my responsibility to keep tabs on settings and protect my batteries.
I forgot to say I am a biomedical engineer and understand the little beasts!

frank

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