 |
|
|
|
|
| [an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
More research on new pacemakers that restore normal rhythm to failing hearts shows the advanced devices can help relieve symptoms of heart failure and improve quality of life. As reported in Medical Update Volume XXVII Number 9, the InSync ICD pacemaker delivers tiny electrical impulses that stimulate the right and left lower chambers of the heart to beat in a synchronized fashion. Typical pacemakers connect to the upper and lower chambers on the right side of the heart only.
In the new six-month study, surgeons implanted InSync pacemakers in 453 moderate-to-severe heart failure patients. The devices in this clinical trial did not carry implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm. Pacemakers were activated in 228 patients; the others served as controls.
Data published in the June 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine show that those with working pacemakers could exercise more and were hospitalized half as often as those with the inactive units. Moreover, cardiac tests showed that their hearts shrank by 3.5 percent and pumped 4.6 percent more blood, increases that sound small but dramatically improve a person's ability to function.
"These are exciting findings," cardiologist Joshua Hare says in an accompanying editorial. He notes that studies are under way to answer whether the devices should be combined with a defibrillator. Longer studies will also help determine whether the new pacemakers prolong the lives of people with heart failure.
|
