The human body invariably gets older, many internal organs age and wear out. That is why pain signals come in that warn that some organ is malfunctioning. However, the person pays special attention to the heart. With heart pain or heaviness in the chest, anxiety about one’s health is created. After all, as you know, a healthy heart is a long life.
At present, medicine is making ever new breakthroughs in the field of medicine, so now everyone can check their heart and identify certain pathologies. High-precision instruments for research will detect the mechanism that failed, so the doctor will choose the optimal and correct treatment. One of the best correction options that helps restore lost heart function is a heart pacemaker. The operation, the reviews of which are the most positive, allows former patients to forget what heart pain is. They live a full life. Cardiology in Moscow is at the highest level. Tens of thousands of adults and children are cured a year, and the best doctors give the inhabitants of the country a new full life.
But, before you figure out what a cardiac pacemaker is (the cost of the operation may be different) and how it works, you need to know the anatomy and physiology of such an organ as the heart.
Heart: its structure and functions
The heart is a muscle organ that can pump blood throughout the body. In it is a septum, consisting of muscle tissue, which divides the heart into the right and left side. The two parts are also separated by a septum, the upper halves are called the atria, and the lower halves are the ventricles. The atria and ventricles are connected by physiological valves through which blood moves through muscle contraction.
Blood, being in the right half of the atrium, enters the lungs, where it is actively saturated with oxygen. Further, this blood enters the left ventricle, after which it flows into the aorta, which divides into arteries. Thanks to this mechanism, oxygen-rich blood enters the entire body through the arteries and thereby enriches all tissues and organs with oxygen. After the oxygen release function is completed, blood is collected in the veins and flows back into the heart, first entering the right atrium, and then into the right ventricle. Arterial blood, which is saturated with oxygen, will be lighter than venous.
Due to the fact that the human heart works smoothly, the blood is able to constantly enrich all tissues and organs with useful substances and oxygen. The natural mechanism that starts the heart and makes it pump blood is based on the work of supplying special electrical impulses. In medicine, this function is called the sinus node, or the natural driver of the heart. It is located in the heart, namely in the right half of its part, in the atrium.
The sinus node plays an important role in the work of the heart. It controls the heart rate, and depending on the situation and various conditions, accelerates the heart rate or vice versa, slows them down. For example, with physical exertion, the heart beats faster than with a passive state of the body. The natural driver of the heart feels that there is a need to pump blood faster, therefore it is rebuilding the heart muscle at a faster speed.
Electric pulse transmission path
The distribution of electrical impulses is due to the fact that conductive fibers are located in the heart, and it is they that cause the atria and ventricles to contract to the next impulse. Due to the pause between contractions, which the heart can withstand, there is a "rest" of the heart muscle.
In some physiological and pathological conditions, a slowdown in heart rate is observed. Reasons for slowing the heartbeat:
- dizziness;
- hypertension;
- headache;
- fatigue, apathy;
- fainting;
- violation of respiratory rate.
In medicine, this condition is called bradycardia. The reason for its appearance is that there is a lesion of the sinus node, then there are changes in the conductive system. This condition leads to a decrease in the frequency of the heart rhythm, which negatively affects the cardiovascular system and the body as a whole, as the flow of oxygen to tissues and organs decreases. In the future, oxygen starvation develops, and this condition leads to a malfunction in the work of many vital organs. First of all, the heart itself begins to suffer. The patient may feel pain in the chest, as well as heaviness in the heart. If a person does not pay attention to the symptoms and does not cure the disease, then the brain begins to suffer, or rather, brain cells that constantly require optimal oxygen saturation.
With the development of heart block, the impulses that the sinus node delivers do not always reach the ventricles, and sometimes do not reach at all, which leads to a violation of the synchronization of the atria and ventricles.
Pathology of the heart rhythm
Congenital heart rhythm disturbance is associated with the pathology of the child's cardiovascular system, that is, at the time of laying the organ, irreversible changes (heart disease) occurred . Very often, such a violation is determined by an ultrasound examination of the fetus, but sometimes the disease is detected only after the birth of the baby.
Pediatric cardiology treats babies who have heart defects, sometimes to save a child's life it is necessary to introduce a pacemaker into the body.
Acquired heart rate disturbance can occur due to many reasons:
- age-related changes;
- after a heart muscle infarction;
- infectious diseases that cause a heart complication;
- hereditary predisposition;
- obesity;
- smoking and alcohol abuse.
Heart Rate Recovery
Such a disease can not be treated with medication, only symptomatology is relieved with medication, but the patient’s health is still in danger. In this condition, it is advisable to use an artificial pacemaker.
It is a special device - a pacemaker, which uninterruptedly stimulates cardiac impulses, causing the ventricles and atria to contract simultaneously. In order to install a cardiac pacemaker, the cost of the operation will be higher, and the recovery period will be more difficult if the disease is not treated on time, and let it drift.
The composition of the electric pacemaker system
The structure of the device is very complex, it is located in a sealed enclosure and consists of a pulse generator and an electrode. The case consists of a special medical alloy (titanium), due to which the survival rate of the stimulator in the human body is increased.
The operation of the device is carried out only at those moments when the slowdown of the heart rhythm begins, or pauses in the work of the heart appear. In this case, a mechanism is triggered in the device that sends its own electrical impulses to the heart muscle, bringing it to a normal state. This is an example diagram of how a pacemaker works. The operation reviews of patients with cardiac pathology received positive. They boil down to the fact that patients no longer suffer from heart rhythm disturbances, returning to a full life.
Kinds
At the moment, there are three types of devices that are an artificial pacemaker.
- Single chamber pacemaker. It has only one electrode, which is located in the ventricle, those are only in one heart chamber. Atrial contraction in this case is carried out naturally. This type of apparatus has serious drawbacks, as it controls only one heart compartment. Sometimes it happens that because of this the rhythm of the ventricle and atria coincides, which leads to the pathology of the outflow of blood from the heart. Due to the atrial malfunction, blood will not be able to fully circulate from the ventricle to the atrium, which means it will not go further into the bloodstream.
- Two-chamber pacemaker. It has two electrodes, one located in the ventricle, and the second in the atrium. This device has advantages over a single-chamber pacemaker. In this case, there is complete control over the correct operation and complete synchronization of the atrium and ventricle. Due to this, the outflow of blood from the heart will occur without any violations, while the blood will flow into the bloodstream according to the previous rules, as was the case with healthy cardiac activity.
- Three-chamber pacemaker. This device is the most advanced artificial heart rate driver. It has three electrodes, which are located in three cardiac compartments: atrium, left and right ventricle. Due to such a favorable arrangement, the blood physiologically correctly passes through all the stages of receipt from one cardiac compartment to another, falling uninterruptedly into the blood vessels. The rhythm in this case is the same as in a healthy heart.
What is an electrode and the principle of its operation in a pacemaker
Due to the high flexibility of the electrode, it can easily bend and twist, which is very important for such a device, as various physical movements of a person occur, as well as heart contractions.
The conductor is able to transmit pulses to the myocardium, through which it generates information about the heart rhythm. The electrode has a special hypersensitive head, which creates contact with the heart muscle.
Heart pacemaker: operation, reviews
At the moment, the operation to introduce a pacemaker is a simple and affordable procedure. It lasts no more than two hours, is carried out by experienced doctors, the department is cardiology. Patient reviews in the postoperative period are good, since recovery occurs relatively quickly, and patients are soon discharged home. A pacemaker is sutured into the chest into the subclavian region so that it is between the skin and muscle tissue.
The electrode, before entering the heart cavity, passes through a vein. The entire process of electrode placement is carried out under ultrasonic observation. To the external part of the heart segment, the device itself is fixed - a cardiac pacemaker. The operation reviews of patients who have an artificial pacemaker, gets positive. Thanks to the implantation, they will soon be able to return to their previous lifestyle. However, the inconvenience and limitations remain. Nevertheless, a very serious apparatus, a cardiac pacemaker, is being introduced into the body. The cost of the operation depends on the manufacturer of the device and the material of the electrode.
Terms of Use
To prevent a malfunction in the automatic pacemaker system, you must adhere to the following rules:
- not be near high-voltage electric lines;
- it is forbidden to be near various power translators, transmission towers of television signals and radio signals;
- In no case should you be inspected using a metal detector (at the airport, in stores).
In the presence of an introduced pacemaker, it is forbidden to undergo some medical research:
- Ultrasound of the chest;
- MRI (study);
- physiotherapy in a different wavelength range: magnetotherapy, electrotherapy;
- electrocoagulation only with the permission of the attending physician.
In everyday life, you should also follow certain rules:
- Avoid touching electrical sources;
- Do not move the device yourself, do not hit it;
- talking on a cell phone, apply it to your right ear;
- when using a hammer drill, drills must be extremely careful;
- do not strain the pectoral muscles;
- in the gym to limit the load on this muscle group.
Operation cost and pacemaker price
Typically, in heart surgery, the cost also includes the pacemaker itself. As a result, a whole complex of procedures and measures is added to the final price. These include:
- open heart surgery;
- pacemaker cost;
- price of electrodes;
- period of stay in cardiology, rehabilitation.
It is important to determine what type of pacemaker, how many electrodes it has, and which manufacturer. Depending on this, during heart surgery, the cost can range from the lowest to a certain high. Price policy for pacemakers:
- single-chamber type of device (domestic production) from 10 500 to 55 000 rubles, imported - 80 000 rubles;
- two-chamber - from 80,000 to 250,000 rubles; import analogue - from 250 000 rubles;
- three-chamber - from 300,000 rubles and above, and imported production on average from 450,000 rubles.
However, it should be clarified that this does not include the price of electrodes. The price of the domestic electrode will be from 2000 to 4500 rubles, the import - from 6 000 rubles. Therefore, it is easy to calculate how much a cardiac pacemaker will cost; the cost of the operation will be from 15,000 to 500,000.
Pacemaker Installation
The Cardiology Center is located in the capital, so residents of different cities of the country conduct treatment there.
This center treats adults and children. It is noteworthy that it also has specialized pediatric cardiology. Patients are treated and diagnosed with modern equipment. Also, various cardiology departments are equipped with various advanced devices. Diagnoses are made by qualified professionals. Treatment can be carried out medically and instrumentally. After recovery, patients are given rehabilitation. Cardiology in Moscow is at the highest level, so you can not be afraid for your health.
The cost of treatment in a cardiology center
Depending on how critical the diagnosis is, prices may vary. If the patient passes the quota, he can count on free service in any field of medicine: surgery, cardiology. In this case, prices will not bother you anymore, which is very profitable and at the same time reliable.