Pacemakers in Andheri East

What a pacemaker does

Your heart has its own electrical system. When it fails — the natural pacemaker slows, or the wiring between the chambers blocks — the heart beats too slowly. That causes tiredness, breathlessness, dizziness, and sometimes blackouts that come without warning.

A pacemaker is a small device, roughly the size of a matchbox, placed under the skin below the collarbone, with one or two fine leads passed through a vein into the heart. It watches every beat and does nothing while your rhythm is adequate. When a beat is missed or the rate falls too low, it delivers a tiny electrical impulse. You do not feel it.

Who needs one

• Complete or high-grade heart block — the signal from the top chambers is not reaching the bottom ones
• Sick sinus syndrome — the heart's own pacemaker becomes unreliable, often alternating fast and slow
• Symptomatic bradycardia — a slow rate causing fatigue, breathlessness or fainting
• Unexplained blackouts where monitoring shows long pauses

Fainting from a slow heart is not something to live with and hope about. A blackout while driving or on a staircase is how these conditions become dangerous.

Types of device

Single chamber

One lead, usually to the right ventricle. Simple and appropriate in some rhythms, particularly permanent atrial fibrillation with a slow rate.

Dual chamber

Two leads — one to the upper chamber, one to the lower — so the device can keep the chambers working in their natural sequence. This is the usual choice when the top chambers still beat normally.

Leadless pacemakers

A capsule placed directly inside the heart through a vein in the leg, with no leads and no pocket under the skin. It removes the two commonest sources of long-term trouble: lead fracture and pocket infection. This technology is also the subject of Dr Yadav's doctoral research at IIT Bombay, on wireless charging and dual-chamber leadless systems.

The procedure and afterwards

• Done under local anaesthetic with sedation; typically about an hour
• Usually one night in hospital
• Keep the arm on that side out of overhead positions for a few weeks while the leads settle
• The wound is checked at around ten days; the device is checked at six weeks, then periodically
• Batteries typically last many years, and replacing one is a much smaller procedure than the first implant

Modern pacemakers are safe around mobile phones, microwaves, airport security and induction hobs. MRI needs checking first — many current devices are MRI-conditional, but the scan has to be set up correctly, and you should always tell the radiographer you have a device.