According to the Cleveland Clinic, sudden cardiac death is the leading natural cause of death in the United States, killing more than 325,000 Americans every year. Luckily, a new device from BIOTRONIK might make treating this disease a little more comfortable.
Unlike a heart attack, sudden cardiac death occurs when a malfunction in the heart’s electrical system causes the organ to beat irregularly. Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) — battery-powered devices that generate electrical impulses — are the current treatment for patients at risk for sudden cardiac death.
Currently, most ICDs only deliver a shock to the ventricle of the heart. But, if the abnormal pace making is above the ventricle, such as in the left atrium, then the device can lead to inappropriate, and painful shocks. In contrast, the Biotronik Lumax VR-T DX is a single-lead ICD that can sense in both the ventricle and the atrium. This lead collects additional information in the atrium and reduces the potential for inappropriate shocks.
“The Lumax VR-T DX gives physicians access to complete atrial fibrillation and heart failure diagnostic data, which, alongside BIOTRONIK Home monitoring, significantly improve the early detection of atrial fibrillation and reduce any inappropriate therapies,” said video-author Dr. Dietmar Bansch about the video.
When asked why he chose to publish his method in JoVE. Dr. Bansch responded, “Demonstrating the implantation visually in JoVE means the viewer can see every single step of the implantation process, including the visual aids that were used when positioning the lead, and can follow all the measurements while every step is explained.”
This is the second of two clinical procedures JoVE has published today, and JoVE has fined-tuned the process of capturing these surgical procedures to ensure clinicians get the most out of them.
“More than just videography is necessary to capture an implantation procedure, like this one, in video,” said JoVE Content Director Dr. Aaron Kolski-Andreaco. “To convey a detailed step-by-step surgical procedure, one needs to visualize the aspects of the surgery that guide the surgeon through it.
“This involves using motion graphics to combine video taken from intraoperative imaging and electrophysiological equipment with actual video of the procedure, so that the viewer gets to see what the surgeon is looking at as they perform the surgery.”
To see the full procedure, please click here.
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