Pacing and defibrillation

Implanted pacing and defibrillation systems monitor and treat inappropriate cardiac rhythms. In general, these inappropriate rhythms result in cardiac outputs that are inadequate to meet metabolic demands and thus can be life threatening. To best understand the function of such pacing and defibrillation systems, the underlying physiologic situations indicated for their use must also be defined and understood. Furthermore, as with the design of any biomedical device or system, a first principles understanding of the appropriate physiologic behavior is a prerequisite to the definition of performance characteristics of the device. This chapter aims to provide a basic understanding of the physiologic conditions that require intervention with pacing and/or defibrillation systems and introduces technical information about these systems to provide the reader with a foundation for future research and reading on this topic.