The heart is about the size of a closed fist. It has four chambers. The upper chambers are the right atrium and left atrium. The more powerful lower chambers are called the right ventricle and left ventricle. When the heart is healthy, it easily pumps oxygen rich blood to your entire body. When heart failure (HF) occurs, the heart's ability to pump is limited.
Many times this is aggravated by:
As a result, you may feel tired and have:
HF is often treated with medicines, diet and lifestyle changes. In some cases, a biventricular pacemaker is needed. This special pacemaker stimulates the right and left ventricles to help them contract in sync and pump more effectively.
The use of this type of pacemaker is often called cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).
The intrinsic conduction system sets the basic rhythm of the beating heart.
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Standard pacemakers have two wires or leads that send signals (electrical impulses) to specific areas of the heart. One lead is in the right atrium. The other is in the right ventricle. A biventricular pacemaker has a 3rd lead in the left ventricle. This allows timed coordinated signals to be sent both to the right and left ventricles.
As needed, a biventricular pacemaker/defibrillator also can "shock" or defibrillate the heart. This helps control life-threatening heart rhythm problems, sometimes seen in HF patients.
A pacemaker is a small, battery-operated electronic device which is inserted...
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A biventricular pacemaker is about the size of a pager. Like a standard pacemaker, it is often placed in the upper chest area just below the collarbone.
