Improving the accuracy of activity-appropriate pacing
Priority: | No |
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Current rate-responsive pacemakers inadequately react to a patient’s activity level causing over- or under-pacing of the heart. Ninety-five percent of pacemakers require reprogramming after implantation, which can take up to seventeen office visits during the first year. Patients and physicians need a more accurate and expedient method correlating patients’ pacemaker rate with their activity level. The proposed solution is a simulated pacemaker device that continuously monitors the pacemaker patient’s body movement and recommends appropriate heart pacing rates. The device’s rate-recommendation algorithm was created using body movement information, via an accelerometer and heart rate monitor, from healthy individuals. The prototype device continuously monitors the patient’s activity measurements and sends a signal to an external device, providing seamless rate responsiveness without the need of a physician. This aspect of the solution expedites the rate- response personalization process. For prototype testing, the external device consists of a multicolor LED light that displays the patient’s recommended heart rate and its relative accuracy to the real heart rate, indicated by flashing rate and color respectively. Real-time pacing of the patient’s heart will reduce the need for reprogramming and minimize the incidence of over- and under-pacing on the patient’s heart.