BIOLOGY 20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Sinoatrial Node, Cardiac Arrhythmia, Oxytocin
Document Summary
Out of rhythm and is used to describe a condition where the heart beat has become irregular. Clinically, arrhythmia includes all rhythms of the heart other than its normal sinus rhythm. Pacemaker the hearts natural pacemaker is called the sa node or sinus node. It makes the electrical impulses that cause you heart to beat. An artificial pacemaker is a small, battery operated device that helps the heart to beat in a regular rhythm. Implanted in patients with abnormally slow heart rates. Lead detects hearts own electrical activity and sends information to generator. Generator analyses this information about the hearts electrical activity and decides whether to pace or not. If heart rate drops to low, the generator transmits an electrical signal to heart thus stimulating the heart muscle to contract. The pacemaker is continually monitoring heart activity and is set to fire or send a 5 volt stimulating voltage to cause contraction.
