A pacemaker is a medical device implanted in a person’s chest to control abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia). It generates electrical impulses to stimulate the heart muscles and prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate.
Why do I need a pacemaker?
Your doctor may recommend a pacemaker if you suffer from arrhythmia – a problem with the rate or rhythm of your heartbeat.
During an arrhythmia, the heart can struggle to pump enough blood around the body. This can cause fatigue, shortness of breath or fainting. A pacemaker can help relieve some of these symptoms and allow you to get back to living a more active lifestyle.
What can I expect?
A pacemaker is implanted by Global Cardiology’s heart specialists and a team of specialised cardiovascular nurses in hospital under a local anaesthetic.
You’ll be admitted to hospital on the day of the procedure.
When it’s time to begin, you’ll be taken to the procedure room and asked to lie on an operating table where you will be attached to a heart monitor and have a cannula inserted in a vein in your arm.
You’ll be given medication to help you relax and provide pain relief.
You will then be given a local anaesthetic to numb your collarbone area.
Your cardiologist will then make a small incision near your collarbone, where the pacemaker battery will sit.
He or she will thread the pacemaker leans inside a large vein and in the right side of your heart, then fix the end of the lead into position inside the heart.
Your cardiologist will program the pacemaker and perform tests to ensure it’s working properly, then tuck the battery inside the collarbone area.
The area of the incision will then be stitched up and dressed.
The procedure typically takes one to two hours.
Afterwards, you’ll be moved to a recovery area to rest for a day or two before you can return home. You will see a bulge under your skin where the pacemaker was inserted. It may also feel sore and bruised, but this should go away after two weeks.
