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Biventricular Pacing in Helena |
The Helena Cardiology Clinic is involved in the use of
biventricular pacing in the management of patients with congestive heart
failure. This technology is evolving at a rapid rate with multiple
manufacturers working on various solutions to improve lead durability, ease
of placement and long-term management. |
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Frontal Chest x-ray of biventricular Pacemaker |
An article in The New England Journal of
Medicine in June 2002 involved a study of 453 patients with chronic heart
failure on stable medical regimens. The patients who received biventricular
pacemakers had improvement in their exercise capabilities as well as improved
quality of life scores compared to a similar group without this new type of
pacemaker technology. |
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Lateral Chest X-ray of biventricular pacemaker |
On the basis of this study, it is felt
that patients should be considered for this type of therapy who have
refractory heart failure in spite of maximal medical therapy and who have
certain electrocardiographic abnormalities (QRS duration >130 msec).
Enthusiasm must be tempered by the high rate of unsuccessful implantations
(up to 10%) and by the procedure's length (up to seven hours!) and potential
for complications. Further research is still needed to see if there is a
subset of patients who will benefit the most from this technology.
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| Dr. Paustian has given
multiple talks
on this new technology to multiple physician and nursing groups in the State
of Montana. |
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