Pacemaker

Pacemaker

It is well known to everybody that heart beats automatically. It does not need to be controlled by the brain. Sometimes the heart gets messages that make it change the speed of the beat. It can go faster or slower. These messages can come from special nerve signals. They can also come from harmones carried in the blood. The continuous and regular beatings of the heart is controlled by the pacemaker. The pacemaker lies between the two atria. It is a small group of muscle cells that send out regular electrical signals. These signals make the heart beat regular, that is , about 70 - 80 times a minute in a healthy adult.

Certain heart diseases cause this pacemaker to fail. Under this condition an artificial pacemaker is used to keep the heartbeat regular. An artificial pacemaker is a battery powered electronic device which stimulates the heart and makes it to beat regularly. Some artificial pacemakers are implanted in the chest while others are small enough to be passed along a vein to the heart. The simplest pacemakers keep the heart going at a steady rate of 70 beats per minute. But sometimes it is possible to get the person’s own nervous system to control the pacemaker. In this case the heart can still beat faster or slower according to the need of the body. Battery powered pacemakers can work upto 15 years with just one battery.