Other Devices With Pacemaker Function
Sometimes devices resembling pacemakers, called implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are implanted. These devices are often used in the treatment of patients at risk from sudden cardiac death. An ICD has the ability to treat many types of heart rhythm disturbances by means of pacing, cardioversion, or defibrillation. Some ICD devices can distinguish between ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia (VT), and may try to pace the heart faster than its intrinsic rate in the case of VT, to try to break the tachycardia before it progresses to ventricular fibrillation. This is known as fast-pacing, overdrive pacing, or anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP). ATP is only effective if the underlying rhythm is ventricular tachycardia, and is never effective if the rhythm is ventricular fibrillation.
| I | II | III | IV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock chamber | Antitachycardia pacing chamber | Tachycardia detection | Antibradycardia pacing chamber |
| O = None | O = None | E = Electrogram | O = None |
| A = Atrium | A = Atrium | H = Hemodynamic | A = Atrium |
| V = Ventricle | V = Ventricle | V = Ventricle | |
| D = Dual (A+V) | D = Dual (A+V) | D = Dual (A+V) |
| ICD-S | ICD with shock capability only |
| ICD-B | ICD with bradycardia pacing as well as shock |
| ICD-T | ICD with tachycardia (and bradycardia) pacing as well as shock |
Read more about this topic: Artificial Cardiac Pacemaker
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