42^nd World Cardiology Conference

Cardiac Device Therapy

People who have severe heart failure and irregular heartbeats are candidates for implantable defibrillators. These procedures are surgically placed and deliver pacing, or an electric counter shock, to the heart when a life-threatening abnormal rhythm is detected. People by heart failure develop irregular conduction of the heart’s electrical system that changes how efficiently the heart beats. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), which is also known as biventricular pacing, may be needed. The left ventricle is the large, muscular chamber of the heart that pumps blood out to the body. A left ventricular assist device is a battery-operated, mechanical pump-type device that's surgically implanted. Heart failure can develop when blockages in the coronary arteries restrict the blood supply to the heart muscle. Removal of these blockages can improve overall heart function, which may recover or resolve heart failure symptoms. Percutaneous coronary intervention is one type of procedure to reopen blocked vessels. Coronary artery bypass surgery reroutes the blood supply around a blocked section of the artery. During this procedure, surgeons remove strong blood vessels from another part of the body, such as a leg or the chest wall. They then surgically attach the vessels to the diseased artery in such a way that the blood can flow around the blocked section.