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What Is An Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator?
Question: hi, my dad is 80 years old, he had a pacemaker for like 20 yrs now, changed x2 because it was time, he just had it changed again a week ago, the doctor checked it out and the next day they had him in the hospital for the pacemaker change. his first two pacemakers were just normal pacemakers, now I am being told that the pacemaker he got now he has to place something on his chest over the pacemaker everynight when he is sleeping and every week the doctor wants the results sent over to him to check it out, I was also told that he now has a defibrillator. I do work in the medical field and know a little bit about pacemakers but I have never heard anything about ever doing these actions, my sister and mom did not ask any questions for me so I am really curious why and what is going on for him to be getting that kind of pacemaker.
Brief Answer:
I would explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome back on HCM!
It seems like your doctor has changed your dad's pacemaker to ICD-P (implantable cardioverter defibrillator-pacemaker), which exerts not only cardiac pacing function, but also defibrillation in case of episodic ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation.
The reason why your doctor has switched to this new strategy is that probably he has noticed the presence of ventricular arrhythmia during clinical investigations.
Also the presence of a cardiomyopathy with low ejection fraction or suspicions of ischemic heart disease, may lead to such a decision.
Now your doctor is asking about routine investigations on your dad's cardiac rhythm events and ICD-P adaptation to every possible situations.
That is why he has asked for the device positioned over his ICD-P in order to enable him to gather appropriate information on this matter.
Hope to have been helpful!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
I would explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome back on HCM!
It seems like your doctor has changed your dad's pacemaker to ICD-P (implantable cardioverter defibrillator-pacemaker), which exerts not only cardiac pacing function, but also defibrillation in case of episodic ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation.
The reason why your doctor has switched to this new strategy is that probably he has noticed the presence of ventricular arrhythmia during clinical investigations.
Also the presence of a cardiomyopathy with low ejection fraction or suspicions of ischemic heart disease, may lead to such a decision.
Now your doctor is asking about routine investigations on your dad's cardiac rhythm events and ICD-P adaptation to every possible situations.
That is why he has asked for the device positioned over his ICD-P in order to enable him to gather appropriate information on this matter.
Hope to have been helpful!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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