Do All People Who Have Had A Heart Attack Need An Implanted Defibrillator?

— -- Question: Do All People Who Have Had A Heart Attack Need An Implanted Defibrillator?

Answer: Well, implanted defibrillators are a high-tech modern devices that continue to evolve. They are litterally pacemaker-like devices, but instead of just monitoring for slow rhythms, they monitor every heart beat. And if the patient develops an irregular rhythm or a rhythm that's potentially fatal, the device can deliver a shock to save the patient's life.

Thus is can be lifesaving in many instances. However, it's reserved for patients who are at high enough risk for developing such rhythms to just the, obviously the risk that are associated with implanting such a device. Usually for heart attack patients, these are patients who've suffered large enough heart attacks that they have a significant decrease in the muscle function.

We know from past history that those are exactly the patients who are at the highest risk for suffering sudden cardiac death of irregular rhythms that are fatal.

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