PERMANENT PACEMAKER (PPM)

What is a PPM?

A pacemaker is a small device that helps control your heart beat by providing low-energy electrical pulses that keep the heart beating normally. Pacemakers are similar to defibrillators, but they only provide low-energy shocks and are unable to restart the heart with high-energy shocks.

The device consists of two parts:

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• Pulse generator

• Lead wires (electrodes)

The pulse generator contains a battery and a small computer that regulates the rate of electrical pulses sent to your heart and leads (electrodes) with insulated wires which are placed in a chamber, or chambers of your heart and deliver the electrical impulses to adjust your heart rate.

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Pacemakers can have one, two, or three wires; your doctor will decide which kind of pacemaker you need based on your specific condition. Your doctor will implant the device by making a pocket in the tissue under your skin to hold the pacemaker and then threading the wires into a vein and guiding them to the right place in your heart.  The wire count is defined as:

• One wire: single chamber

• Two wires: dual chamber

• Two wires (one in each ventricle): biventricular pacemakers