Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
ARRHYTHMIA RISK FACTORS
• Coronary Heart Disease
• Personal or Family History of SCA or Heart disorders
• Heart Failure
• Prior Hear Attack
• Drug/Alcohol Abuse
SYMPTOMS MIGHT INCLUDE
•Chest Pain
• Nausea, Vomiting
• Shortness of Breath
• Light Headed or dizziness
• Fainting
To help control heart arrhythmias, a pacemaker or defibrillator can be placed in the chest cavity.
Nonreversible bradycardias are treated with the insertion of a permanent pacemaker that also monitors the heart rhythm and delivers an impulse to stim ulate a heartbeat as needed.
Insertion of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a common option for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. The device monitors the heart rhythm and delivers pacing or shock therapy
to terminate the arrhythmia.
An ICD detects when a patient’s heart starts to beat too quickly, and it understands the impending Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is about to take place. The ICD will give the patient an automatic shock or pacing to keep them alive.
Many people equate an ICD to be like having your own paramedic watching over you twenty-four
hours a day. It is a game changer and a critical component to surviving a SCA.
PROPER MAINTENANCE
Just like patients, pacemakers and defibrillators need regular check-ups. Routine evaluation of these life-saving cardiac devices is essential to ensure appropriate function and to optimize a patient’s device to best meet his or her individual needs. The Device Clinic at Naples Heart Rhythm Specialists, P.A. manages over 3,000 implanted pacemakers and defibrillators. Each week 75-100 patients are seen in the Device Clinic by our staff of specially trained and highly ski lled technicians working under direct supervision of our Board-Certified Cardiac Electrophysiologists. In addition to caring for our existing patients, the Device Clinic is available to persons with an implanted cardiac device who
“snowbird” or travel to southwest Florida during the winter but maintain primary medical services up north. It also accepts patients on a direct referral basis from primary care physicians and cardiologists.
Device Clinic visits take place in a convenient and comfortable setting a minimum of one time per year, depending on the type of device implanted and a patient’s utilization of Remote Monitoring.
Communication with the implanted device is obtained noninvasively using either a programming wand over the clothing or wirelessly. Each device interrogation provides detailed information about the device function and detection of rhythm issues.
All patients newly implanted with a pacemaker or defibrillator are enrolled in the Device Clinic’s Remote Monitoring services. Following their procedure patients are given an external monitor that is set up at their home using a telephone transmitter or Bluetooth technology. The monitor syncs with the implanted device daily and sends data from the device to our clinic staff via a secure website that is checked daily by our highly specia lized nurses and staff.
Not only does remote monitoring provide patients a convenient alternative to more frequent inoffice
evaluations, its daily assessment and communication with the patient’s implanted device yields earlier detection and subsequent management of asymptomatic or undiagnosed arrhythmias as well as early detection in the event of device malfunction. Remote monitoring services and device interrogation and programming are covered by Medicare and most private insurance
companies.
Studies of remote monitoring have also shown a reduction in time to clinical decision making if an event is detected via remote monitoring, a reduction in inappropriate shocks and improved survival in ICD patients, and a significant reduction in healthcare utilization, hospitalizations and readmissions, and healthcare costs.
If you or a loved one is with an implanted cardiac device or a cardiac arrhythmia and would like to inquire about our services or become a patient, please call Naples Heart Rhythm Specialists at
239.263.0849.
PROVIDING CONSULTATIVE CARDIAC ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY
PROVIDING CONSULTATIVE CARDIAC ELECTROPHYSIOLOGYAND COMPREHENSIVE CARDIOVASCULAR CARE
239 263-0849 • www.NaplesCardiacPet.com
