The Saturday Evening Post » heart rhythm problems http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com Home of The Saturday Evening Post Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:54:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 A Life Vest for the Heart http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/05/03/health-and-family/medical-update/a-life-vest-for-the-heart.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-life-vest-for-the-heart http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/05/03/health-and-family/medical-update/a-life-vest-for-the-heart.html#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 13:30:10 +0000 Wendy Braun http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/?p=55998 As researchers zero in on predicting cardiac arrest—the number one reason why Americans die suddenly—a defibrillator that slips on like a vest is protecting hearts and saving lives.

A Life Vest for the Heart The Saturday Evening Post

]]> “The LifeVest saved my life. It’s as simple as that,” says Dean Dalrymple, 53, about the night he woke up on the family room floor with broken glasses and a scraped-up knee. He had suffered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). And the LifeVest, prescribed by his doctor a month earlier after successful bypass surgery, had shocked him twice, restarting his heart as his family slept nearby.

Bypass surgery for clogged arteries can increase SCA risk, but the danger often drops significantly as the heart heals. As a result, doctors who specialize in heart rhythms (electrophysiologists) wait three months to treat patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

“With the current treatment guidelines, there is a window of time during which someone at risk may not be protected—and that’s when we recommend the Zoll LifeVest,” explains electrophysiologist Krishna Malineni. “When the vest activated, it proved what we had suspected—Mr. Dalrymple had a permanent need for an ICD and we promptly provided him one.”

Heart patients waiting for transplants or being treated for infection-related heart problems are also potential candidates for LifeVest, which is covered by most health insurance plans.

Unlike Mr. Dalrymple and other heart patients, however, most of the 400,000 Americans stricken by SCA every year have no idea they are at risk for the tragic event. Click here to read more about sudden cardiac arrest and ongoing research to better identify those at risk, as well as what to do when SCA strikes.

 

A Life Vest for the Heart The Saturday Evening Post

]]> http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2012/05/03/health-and-family/medical-update/a-life-vest-for-the-heart.html/feed 0 Extra Heart Beats (PVCs) http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/04/17/health-and-family/medical-update/heart-health-heart-disease/extra-heart-beats-pvcs.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=extra-heart-beats-pvcs http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2009/04/17/health-and-family/medical-update/heart-health-heart-disease/extra-heart-beats-pvcs.html#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:00:52 +0000 Dr. Zipes http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/?p=3613 To Carol in Florida: Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) are extra heart beats coming early from the bottom chambers of the heart, the ventricles. In people with normal hearts, they are annoying but of no significance and do not cause sudden death, heart attacks, or strokes. I spend a lot of time reassuring patients they have [...]

Extra Heart Beats (PVCs) The Saturday Evening Post

]]> To Carol in Florida: Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) are extra heart beats coming early from the bottom chambers of the heart, the ventricles. In people with normal hearts, they are annoying but of no significance and do not cause sudden death, heart attacks, or strokes. I spend a lot of time reassuring patients they have nothing to worry about and to ignore the palpitations as best they can. It is the way the heart expresses “grey hair and wrinkles.” Often PVCs increase in frequency as we age. Some of my patients do tell me that the PVCs cause them to take a deep breath, so that may be what you are feeling. PVCs can be a more serious problem in patients with a history of heart trouble, like a heart attack or heart failure. Infrequently, lots of PVCs can actually weaken the contraction of the heart muscle and cause heart failure. We can suppress the PVCs with drugs or eliminate them with a technique called ablation, during which we insert a long, skinny wire into a blood vessel and thread it back into the heart, find where the PVCs are coming from, and then burn or freeze the heart cells causing the PVCs. If you are concerned, I would suggest you ask your doctor to refer you to an electrophysiologist, a cardiologist who specializes in heart rhythm problems.

Extra Heart Beats (PVCs) The Saturday Evening Post

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