|
The heart is a fascinating organ that relies on an electrical impulse to function. The heart has special cells that automatically generate an electrical impulse. This impulse travels down specific pathways in the heart muscle and stimulates the chambers of the heart to contract. This contraction is what makes a heartbeat, and that pumps blood through the body.
Sometimes the heart’s electrical system signals the heart to beat too fast, too slow or out of rhythm. This called an arrhythmia. These arrhythmias can be treated in numerous ways.
Here at the International Heart Institute, our electrophysiologist, Dr. Clifford J. Sheehan, can treat these electrical disorders using a variety of techniques.
Definitions in Electrophysiology
Pacemakers have been around a long time. They are generally used to treat a slow rhythm, or the absence of a heart beat. They are small battery run devices that are implanted under the skin. They have electrical wires (leads) that run from the device to the heart muscle. The battery generates an impulse that causes the heart to contract, or beat.
These devices detect when a person's heart is fibrillating (quivering) or beating too fast. Then it delivers a small shock to the heart muscle to restore a normal rhythm. It is implanted under the skin and is tested regularly to ensure that it is functioning properly. See Defibrillators
- Electrophysiology Studies
If a person has fast heart rhythms, the doctor will need to test the heart muscle to determine what causes the rhythms, what helps treat them, and how a patient tolerates them. This study, called an EP Study, gives the physician this information. It is performed in the cath lab, and takes several hours.
These newer devices are pacemakers, but they pace the two ventricles separately. This is in order to time the contractions of the ventricles in a way that makes the heart beat most efficient. See Biventricular Pacemakers
|