Without Skipping a Beat

At the end of July 2010, HYMC's Pacemaker and Arrhythmia Service became the site of the first implantation of the innovative Medtronic pacemaker, Syncra. "This biventricular pacemaker is the last word in pacemakers for heart failure patients," said Dr. Mark Kazatsker, Director of the Service at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center's Cardiology Unit. "Its advantages lie in its precision and uniform control of heart contractions obtained with the use of three electrodes, significantly increasing cardiac output. In addition, the doctor's control of the required heart rate is more refined and effective, and can be more finely adjusted. Furthermore, a considerable innovation in this device is that it enables the patient's condition to be monitored at any time over an Internet system – a feature not available to date in any other pacemaker."

As previously mentioned, the revolutionary pacemaker has been implanted in the hearts of two 85-year-old patients suffering from heart failure – one from Jisr az-Zarqa and the other from the town of Sde Ilan, outside Afula.

"Both patients' physical capabilities," notes Dr. Kazatsker, "changed almost instantly. From a state of severely limited movement, breathing and physical performance, both patients immediately regained normal function – an unquestionably significant positive change in their quality of life."

This week, both patients arrived for the first post-implant examination and for suture removal. Dr. Kazatsker, who received both patients, was delighted to discover that they had shown significant improvement in all areas since their last reading.

What is heart failure?

Heart failure is a disease that diminishes the heart's ability to supply blood to the body's organs. The causes of the disease can include heart attack, untreated hypertension or other reasons. Heart failure limits the heart's ability to pump a sufficient amount of blood to satisfy the body's need for oxygen. A biventricular pacemaker helps synchronize the heart's pumping activity and improve the volume of blood reaching the body's tissues. Biventricular pacing emits electrical signals that help the heart's ventricles simultaneously contract. The treatment essentially establishes a renewed and more efficient coordination or synchronization of cardiac activity. The implantation of a biventricular pacemaker in a patient can improve his quality of life by improving cardiac output, and help reduce or even eliminate events such as fatigue, difficulty in performing daily physical activity, weakness, etc. As aforementioned, the new pacemaker allows the doctor to maintain greater control over the heart rate and, as reported by the first two implant patients, a return to an almost completely normal life.