Pacemaker, electronic cardiac-support device that produces

rhythmic electrical impulses that take over the regulation of

the heartbeat in patients with certain types of heart disease.

pacemaker
Pacemaker.
J. Heuser
BRITANNICA QUIZ

Inventors and Inventions

Who made the first fully automatic machine gun?

A healthy human heart contains its own electrical conducting
system capable of controlling both the rate and the order of cardiac
contractions. Electrical impulses are generated at the sinoatrial
node in the right atrium, one of the two upper chambers of the
heart. They then pass through the muscles of both atria to trigger
the contraction of those two chambers, which forces blood into
the ventricles. The wave of atrial electrical activity activates a
second patch of conductive tissue, the atrioventricular node,
initiating a second discharge along an assembly of conductive fibres
called the bundle of His, which induces the contraction of the
ventricles. When electrical conduction through the atrioventricular
node or bundle of His is interrupted, the condition is called heart
block. An artificial pacemaker may be employed temporarily until
normal conduction returns or permanently to overcome the block.

In temporary pacing, a miniature electrode attached to fine wires is

introduced into the heart through a vein, usually in the arm. The
pacing device, an electric generator, remains outside the body and
produces regular pulses of electric charge to maintain the heartbeat.
In permanent pacing, the electrode may again be passed into the
heart through a vein or it may be surgically implanted on the
surface of the heart; in either case the electrode is generally located
in the right ventricle. The electric generator is placed just beneath
the skin, usually in a surgically created pocket below the collarbone.