What do these settings mean?

Hi all in Pacer land, I am still on the slow learning curve, and have a few questions.

What is the difference between SafeR (AAI<=>DDD) and
DDDR

On basic Parameters under Smoothing I am set at Off now and it was at Slow

Under Rate response the current value is Learn it was at RRauto.

After being told that I had pauses they put in a Pacemaker, and things have not gone so good.

I finally convinced by Cardio to do more testing and more electrical problems have been found. I go to the EP in Feb.

I would be interested in any thoughts about the settings to educate myself.

Thanks Kat

1 Comments

pacer settings

by golden_snitch - 2010-01-19 02:01:41

Hey there,

the difference between SafeR and DDDR is that with SafeR you are being paced (if necessary) in the atriums while what happens in the ventricles is just watched (sensed). When the pacer senses a heart block, it will switch to the DDDR mode and then you are paced in the ventricles, too.

Sorin's mode switch algoritm is a bit special, it works as follows:
1st degree heart block: mode switch after seven prolonged PQ-intervals
2nd degree heart block: mode switch after three blocked p-waves out of 12
3rd degree heart block: mode switch after two consecutive blocked p-waves.
So, you might still feel some heart blocks. This algoritm (SafeR) is designed to reduce unnecessary right ventricular pacing, and it has been shown that SafeR by Sorin and MVP by Medtronic do the best job in minimizing the right ventricular pacing.

"Learn" under rate response means that the pacer watches how active you really are, and then adjusts the rate according to what it has seen. With RRauto, it just follows a fixed scheme of how to adjust to activity.

Rate smoothing is for the ventricles, I think. It means that whenever there is a sudden decrease in ventricular rate greater than a fixed rate (for example 3bpm), the pacer will start pacing the ventricles, too. This kind of decrease can happen when you are in atrial fibrillation. Pacer just makes sure your heart rate stays stable and doesn't just "jump" around.

Hope this helps.
Best wishes
Inga

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