The treatment of patients suffering from abnormally slow heart rates
has been transformed by the development of artificial cardiac pacemakers
which can be implanted wholly within the body. Slow heart rates are caused
by disease and ageing of the heart affecting both the natural heart pacemaker
and the spread of electrical activity through the heart. Slow rates can also
occur after heart operation. For the patient the symptoms of a slow heart rate
vary, but there may be attacks of faintness and loss of consciousness and
exceptionally slow rhythms pose a threat to life.
If the cause of the abnormally slow heart rate cannot be reversed an
artificial cardiac pacemaker may be recommended to the patient by his
doctor. The patient may be asked to undergo a number of investigations to
establish the cause and nature of the slow heart rate. This will help the
doctor to prescribe the correct pacemaker. In Great Britain approximately
7,000 pacemakers are implanted each year and the doctor may choose from
several hundred different pacemaker models.