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The Patient Alert System ‐ Pilot Study of Built‐in Warning Systems for Pacemakers
Author(s) -
FAHRAEUS THOMAS,
STOTTS LARRY,
PRUTCHI DAVID,
MAERTENS STEVEN,
WOODSON DRURY,
COOKE DANIEL
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1998.tb01099.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pulse generator , pulse (music) , atrial fibrillation , implantable loop recorder , cardiology , medical emergency , electrical engineering , voltage , engineering
Malfunction of a pacing system can be life‐threatening for a pacemaker‐dependent patient. It would be desirable for implantable pulse generators to have a built‐in automatic warning system capable of alerting the patient m soon as a potentially dangerous disorder is detected. In this study, seven patients (mean age, 72.6 ± 10.7 years) with slow, chronic atrial fibrillation underwent implantation of a dual‐chamber pulse generator with a atstom‐made “alert electrode” connected to the atrial port of the pulse generator to stimulate the underlying pectoral muscle. The muscle was temporarily stimulated while the pacemaker was in VVIR mode. The lowest amplitude sufficient to alert the patient (perception threshold) was 1.6 ± 0.58 V at 0.45 ms during implantation and 1.2 ± 0.5 V at 0.45 ms chronically. In a second phase, alerts outside of the office were issued using a special software routine capable of delivering stimuli at programmable date and time.