A pacemaker is designed to correct an irregular heart rhythm.
Although pacemakers date all the way back to the early 20th century as a method to correct the wear and tear of a heart during the course of its lifetime, the first internal pacemaker wasn't implanted until 1959. Since then, it has become a common procedure for those who have had to endure an irregular heartbeat.
Definition
A pacemaker is a small artificial device that a surgeon places in the chest to control the irregular rhythm of the heart by delivering electrical pulses at certain intervals. Pacemakers use batteries that need to be replaced during a lifetime. However, advancements in technology have improved battery life and ease of use.
Heart
The heart has a natural pacemaker that controls contractions. These cardiac pacemaker cells create the rhythmic pulse through the use of electrical impulses. Depending on the body's needs, the central nervous system can stimulate these cells to control the pace of contraction. The contraction movement is similar to that of muscle cells, but there are key differences in how the contraction is accomplished.
Rhythm
Pacemaker cells are located in the sinoatrial node of the right atrium (the atrium is the upper half of the heart). The pacemaker with the quickest action potential stimulates nearby cells, which leads to a subsequent chain reaction that reaches every cell in the heart. When the two atria contract, they pump into the lower chambers called the ventricles. The ventricles contract and pump blood into the rest of the body. The entirely of this action is known as a heartbeat.
Heart Conditions
Arrhythmias are abnormalities in the rhythm of the heart. They can include tachycardia, which is a heart that beats too fast, bradycardia, which is a heart that beats too slow, or heart palpitations. An irregularity originating from the sinoatrial node may be to blame. These abnormalities can cause fainting, fatigue, shortness of breath, organ damage, loss of consciousness and in extreme cases, death.
Benefits
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, an artificial pacemaker corrects many of these problems and allows an individual to resume many of the former activities without much interference from an irregular heart rhythm and its deleterious symptoms such as fatigue and fainting. The pacemaker is meant largely as a replacement for the part of the heart that had previously begun to malfunction.
Tags: heart that, heart rhythm, heart that beats, irregular heart, irregular heart rhythm, rhythm heart, sinoatrial node