A Case-based Approach To Pacemakers, Icds, And ... -

He clicked his remote, and the first slide appeared: A Case-Based Approach to the Rhythms of Life.

"We are not mechanics," he told them, his voice echoing in the hall. "We are conductors. These devices are our instruments, and our job is to ensure the music never stops prematurely." A Case-Based Approach to Pacemakers, ICDs, and ...

Elias opened the first file. Mrs. Gable was eighty-two, a retired piano teacher whose heart had begun to "stutter," as she put it. Her EKG showed a classic Third-Degree Heart Block—the electrical signals from her atria were simply not reaching her ventricles. Her heart was a house where the upstairs and downstairs had stopped speaking. He clicked his remote, and the first slide

To the students, these were just devices. To Elias, they were the difference between a life lived and a life paused. Case I: The Steady Beat of Mrs. Gable These devices are our instruments, and our job

The final case was the most complex. Julian Vane suffered from end-stage Heart Failure. His heart was enlarged and "dyssynchronous"—the left and right sides were beating out of step, like two rowers in a boat pulling at different times. He couldn't walk ten feet without gasping for air.