heart fibulator

[connieuno]

My brother in law is going into hospital tomorrow to actually medically be given a heart attack - which involves the back of his heart.  The Physicians will then use the fibulator to stop the heart attack, at which time he will have one inserted into his body.  What is difference between de fibulator and fibulator? Is this as serious as it sounds?

[kevk]

I think stevie_wonder has it right. I had the same test before my ICD was implanted than had the test a few more times to make sure the ICD was working correctly.

[Mom2four85]

As with any surgery, there's a risk involved; but if he's going in to have it done then probably the worst risk would be living without it.

I have this in my journal about my PM/ICD implant - The induced episode of ventricular fibrillation was adequately detected and terminated by the implanted defibrillator using 17 joules biphasic shock on reverse polarity.  The charge time was 3.1 seconds and the shocking impedance was 42 ohms.

They have to test in the hospital to make sure the ICD is working and it's best under sedation to test it.  I don't remember a thing, but then again I don't remember feeling a 360-joule counter shock back to sinus rhythm during my ablation either :P

Hopefully your brother in law will have an easy surgery and smooth recovery.

[stevie_wonder]

I would think that it is probably an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) that he is having put in.

Having an ICD implanted is a relatively safe procedure. and your brother in law will be in good hands. Don’t worry.

The doctors need to test the ICD so they will stimulate the heart with electrical impulses to cause ventricular fibrillation, (essentially a cardiac arrest) to make sure that the ICD can detect and stop (defibrillation) the ventricular fibrillation with a shock from the ICD. He will be sedated for this and probably won’t remember much if anything.

People commonly mistaken a heart attack as being a cardiac arrest. A heart attack is damage to the heart muscle from a blockage in the arteries. A cardiac arrest is the heart going into a chaotic rhythm that does not allow blood to be pumped. If it is not stopped with defibrillation the heart will eventually just stop beating.

I have one and the peace of mind it gives me is a Godsend.

[ireneo]

I'm not sure you have the information quite correct. An ICD which is a defibrillator is inserted into the chest area under the skin or muscle. It's only given to people who have dangerous heart rhythm problems like ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation which can cause death.

What they do is insert the ICD, run the wires to the heart. Then they will trigger a v-tach or v-fib episode and make sure the ICD fires off and corrects the rhythm problem. There are many settings on the ICD and they will set it specifically in tune with your brother in law's heart. It's a wonderful device and can save his life.