Defibrillators for Heart Failure Patients
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Damage to the heart is extremely difficult to repair. For victims of cardiac arrest, this damage is often permanent and debilitating, and they must sometimes rely on an Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator to maintain proper heartbeat. In instances of total heart failure, these ICDs regulate heartbeat and prevent the patient from slipping into a condition called bradycardia where the heart beats fewer than 60 times a minute.
Injured or damaged hearts often need more assistance to perform their functions than do other, more robust muscles. Many ICDs can also function as pacemakers, devices that send minute shocks to the heart in order to maintain a proper rhythm in addition to monitoring heartbeat to prevent an arrhythmia. An ICD can usually provide the support an injured heart needs, but heart failure patients must maintain constant vigilance against overstressing their delicate conditions.
What
is a defibrillator?
