Cardiac Pacemakers
A pacemaker is a device which is designed to replace the function of the native electrical system of the heart. Sometimes damage from a heart attack can cause the “wires” in the heart one is born with to have problems. The heart beat may pause or stop altogether intermittently causing bothersome symptoms. In other patients, those wires simply wear out overtime and a pacemaker is needed to tell your heart muscle when to beat. There are typically two parts – a pulse generator which is the “brains” of the pacemaker, and leads or “wires”, which extend from the generator into the heart. The pacemaker generator sits in a small pocket under the skin created in a simple surgical procedure.