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| PACEMAKERS AND DEFIBRILLATORS
Lakeview Heart Center offers full-service follow-up for people who
have an implanted device, such as a pacemaker or defibrillator. This
includes periodic routine visits that can help detect problems and
prevent symptoms from affecting your independence and activities of
daily living.
Follow-up for patients who have an implanted device includes:
- Postoperative surveillance through routine tests
- Observation
- Making adjustments to address potential problems
Pacemaker follow-up services depend on the age and type of pacemaker and include:
- Transtelephonic monitoring
- Scheduled clinic visits for threshold testing
When Do Follow-up Services Start?
You will need to
come to the clinic to have your pacemaker tested seven to ten days
after it is implanted. It is recommended that you bring someone who can
help you to this first appointment. This visit typically lasts about
one hour. At this time, you will receive a monitoring unit
(transmitter) and complete instructions for its use.
Transtelephonic Monitoring
At one-month postimplantation, you will have a telephone test. A
technician will call you at home at a predetermined time. You will
follow the technician's instructions to test your device over the phone
in the comfort of your own home. This test takes less than five
minutes, and the results will be reviewed briefly with you at the
conclusion of the telephone check. Each test is reviewed by a
cardiologist and placed in your record at Lakeview Heart Center.
Emergency telephone testing is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Threshold Testing
Pacemaker clinic visits are called threshold testing. These visits
occur once or twice a year as prescribed by your physician. A
registered nurse trained in pacemaker device therapy performs this
evaluation, which takes approximately 30 minutes. The nurse checks your
vital signs and discusses possible pacemaker-related symptoms. The
nurse also examines your pacemaker pocket and performs a series of
noninvasive painless tests to analyze the pacemaker's function.
The pacing system includes the pulse generator, the lead(s)
connecting the pacemaker to the heart and you, the patient. All three
of these components need to be evaluated in the clinic. Threshold
testing helps the nurse determine if your pacemaker settings are
programmed appropriately. Correct settings increase the longevity of
the pacemaker generator. The test results are interpreted by a
cardiologist and kept in your record.
Follow-up for Other Devices
Internal cardioverter
defibrillator (ICD) follow-up is similar to a pacemaker clinic visit.
You need to come to the clinic for this evaluation. The appointments
last approximately 45 minutes and can be as frequent as every three
months.
A nurse will check your vital signs and perform an analysis of your
ICD. The analysis and testing is sometimes referred to as an
"interrogation." Following the interrogation, a nurse practitioner or
cardiologist will review the testing results. |
