Health encyclopaedia

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Treatment of Heart block

The long-term treatment for heart block is to fit a ‘pacemaker’. This is a small, battery-driven device that sends out electrical signals to keep the heartbeat regular.

Modern pacemakers are very sophisticated and some can be set to produce an electrical impulse only when one is needed. Some can even tell when the heart stops beating and produce a small electric shock to restart it. (Older pacemakers used to produce the electrical signal at a constant rate and this limited the patient’s physical activity.)

Before having a permanent pacemaker, some patients might need a temporary ‘pacing wire’. The pacing wire does a similar job to a pacemaker (sending electrical signals to regulate the heartbeat) but is inserted through a vein in the chest or groin area.

Sometimes no treatment is recommended. This may be when patients are elderly and the symptoms are very minor, or where people have other medical conditions that would make the operation to fit a pacemaker too dangerous.

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