Interrogations

I have Medtronic single lead PM in VVIR mode implanted 3 years ago.  Interrogation was done on 10,Feb.  The report says ECG-AF with ventricular paced rhythm and occasional QRS and VS-27.7%, VP-72.3%.  Please can one of our knowlegeble members tell me the significance of this.  I am informed earlier PM senses all time and it gives impulses when required.  My PM is ADAPTA ADRS-01.  Does it now sense 27.7% only and out of that it paces 72.3%?

4 Comments

Harsh

by donr - 2011-02-16 01:02:13

Guess I am, but people cannot be shrinking violets when it comes to survival. That's what this is. Rarely do I talk w/ my Cardio about these things - it's his nursing staff & the Medtronics techs. I don't do remote sensing - my Dr. doesn't like it. He has about 4 trained nurses who do the downloading & a PA who also understands how the sheets read and I see them about quarterly.

If YOU don't take control immediately & forcefully, you'll never get anything. I've said it here several times - they will tell you no more than you demand. You ask nothing, they tell you nothing. That makes you their ideal patient - no demands on their time.

George Washington said it about American soldiers - you have to tell them why they are doing things and they will do it - they are not happy w/o the reasons behind decisions & actions. What we are seeing here is the same thing in patients. They want to know why & what.

One reason for unnecessary deaths in the health care system is that patients or families don't question things that don't sound right. You must be your own gatekeeper - captain of your own ship, master of your own fate.

Don

Why...

by donr - 2011-02-16 07:02:10

...didn't you ask these questions of the person who downloaded the device? You either should be demanding of information like this, or the person taking it should be volunteering it. Most likely the first. No Cardio practice member will tell you any more than you demand. They are busy & want to get on to the next patient

There are some patients who want to stick their heads in the sand & be ignorant of what is going on..At the other end of the spectrum are folks who want to know the "Why" & "What" of everything. The only way they find out which is which is by the patient asking interminable questions.

Let me start you off - BASED ON MY PM OUTPUT. Yours may be different.

There is a section that gives a table of every possible combination of heart operation. VS means that your ventricles were operating on their own pacing 27.2 % of the time & the PM only acted as a spectator. VP means that your ventricles were activated by the PM 72.3% of the time. IOW, the PM didn't see a triggering pulse from w/i the heart's system when expected so it fired it. The PM monitors 100% of the time so it knows when it should step in - just like a bank regulator! Mine gives me a table of all possible outcomes: AS/VS; AP/VS; AS/VP; AP/VP Their sum is 100%, 'cause there are no further possibilities.

I learned all this by taking the report & going through it w/ someone right after they looked at it when the printer spit it out. My staff has come to expect it, knowing I will interrogate THEM till I am satisfied w/ the answers.

Now go out & have a good day.

Don

For Don

by J.B. - 2011-02-16 12:02:15

Kind of harsh on Jaybee aren't you Don? (Why didn't you ask these questions of the person that downloaded the device?) Maybe Jaybee just wanted to wait until they could ask their questions here and get an answer with which they can take their time and digest. Reading the answer here is a thousand times better than getting an answer of such complexity at the time of the checkup.

Anyway if they hadn't posted their question here you would not have had the opportunity to show your undeniable knowledge about pacemakers and the information available from a checkup.

As for me if I asked those questions of the person doing my checkup I would get answers that only God would know how accurate they may be. Many of the people doing PM pacemaker checkups are nothing but button pushers and know only the very minimum about what they are seeing so we have to wait for the Dr to get a our answer. In my case, I see the Dr only when the tech thinks there is something wrong. At some point the Dr will see the checkup printout and may give me a call, but except in extremely rare cases it will not be the day of the checkup. Like it or not that is the way the system works for most of us and that is one of the main reasons the Pacemaker Club is so popular.

interrogations

by breezy - 2011-02-16 12:02:39

for me I asks questions all the time - but never have gotten a report - either I forget to ask or the Dr and the nurse are in and out so fast I don't get a chance to ask more questions - but today when I do my remote transmission I will call them back and get a report sent to me.
I think your lucky Don that you have someone that will sit down with you after the print out and take the time to explain things to you - my Dr takes time with me - but he doesn't have the time after a print out to tell me all that is going on - that would take all day becuz I ask lots of questions - normally he has rooms full of folks waiting to see him - right or wrong - it is what it is.
I think you gave a really good reply back and I am sure that helped Jaybee :) it helped me so when I get my report I can look back on your answers :)
anyways, have a good day
Blessings
breezy

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Member Quotes

In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.