Baptist Cardiology Team One of the Nation’s First to Implant Newest Device for Cardiac Pacing

Implantable cardiac devices (ICDs) are sophisticated electronic devices that are implanted to help prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation – a fast heart rhythm.

Known officially as Biotronik Lumax 740 DX System, this newly available single-chamber ICD, uses a single thin flexible wire – called a lead – to deliver an electrical pulse to the heart when the heart rate becomes dangerously fast, which then returns the heart to proper function. The innovative device can sense vital changes in heart rhythm in both the atrium and the ventricle of the heart through its single lead, offering an enhanced way of gaining important and useful atrial signal information without the risk of implanting multiple leads.

The new ICD available at Baptist through Biotronik’s initial market evaluation, expands the diagnostic capabilities of a standard single-chamber ICD with a single lead, in addition to featuring sophisticated sensors that allow for atrial monitoring and enhanced arrhythmia diagnosis, overcoming limitations of prior single-lead ICD systems. It also offers the potential to reduce the risk of stroke by enhancing detection of atrial fibrillation. Additionally, the technology helps discriminate supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs), AF and atrial flutter to reduce the risk of inappropriate shocks.