A pacemaker helps your heart keep a healthy rhythm when you have an abnormal heartbeat called an arrhythmia. Heart rhythm experts (electrophysiologists) with The Heart Group of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health perform hundreds of pacemaker procedures every year.
Our doctors helped refine a technique called left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) to secure pacemaker electrodes inside the heart. This innovative approach helps the pacemaker work better with your heart’s natural electrical system. We’re among a select few heart centers in the country routinely using LBBAP when placing pacemakers.
Pacemakers: The Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Advantage
Our Heart & Vascular Institute is home to the only dedicated Electrophysiology (EP) Clinic and one of the only hybrid ORs in the Lancaster region. These high-tech facilities enable us to offer comprehensive care for common to complex heart arrhythmias.
You benefit from:
Dedicated Heart Rhythm Program
We perform advanced EP studies and cardiac mapping to find the cause of your heart rhythm disturbance. This critical information helps our doctors select the best pacemaker or other treatment for you. Our team has extensive experience performing advanced arrhythmia tests and treatments.
Innovative Techniques for Placing Pacemaker Leads
We are one of the leading centers in the nation for the LBBAP technique. The left bundle branch sends electrical signals to your left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber. With LBBAP, we insert the lead into the left bundle branch and heart wall. This lead placement actively engages your heart’s natural electrical system to keep your heart pumping optimally. Studies show this placement improves heart rhythm and function.
Full Range of Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices
Depending on your diagnosis, you may need a different type of heart rhythm device. We offer the latest devices to treat all kinds of arrhythmias, including:
- Leadless pacemakers: We were one of the first in the country to offer Micra®, the world’s smallest leadless pacemaker. Our doctors implant this pacemaker into a heart chamber where it sends electrical impulses without the need for leads.
- MRI-compatible pacemakers: We offer MRI-compatible pacemakers that enable you to safely undergo imaging scans.
- Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs): An ICD can protect your heart from cardiac arrest or a life-threatening arrhythmia. The device also sends electrical signals to keep and restore a stable heart rhythm.
Same-day Discharge Program
Our same-day discharge program ensures you get the care you need at our hospital while allowing you to go home the same day you get a pacemaker. Our team’s success with the same-day discharge program led other Penn Medicine hospitals to implement the program.
Help for People With Multiple Heart Conditions
We offer specialized devices for people who have arrhythmias and chronic heart failure. These treatments include:
- Cardiac contractility modulation (CCM): We were among the first in central Pennsylvania to offer The Optimizer®. This rechargeable device sends electrical signals that strengthen heart contractions, sending more oxygenated blood to your body.
- Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT): A biventricular or CRT pacemaker helps your lower left heart chamber pump more efficiently.
Extensive Involvement in Research and Clinical Trials
Our doctors serve as principal investigators for heart and vascular clinical trials and research of new heart rhythm devices and heart ablation techniques. Our team’s involvement in the leadless pacemaker clinical trial meant we were one of the first in the country to successfully place the device.
Expert Lead Extractions
In rare instances, it may be necessary to remove pacemaker leads or replace them with new ones. You may need a lead extraction if a pacemaker gets infected or a lead breaks or isn’t working as well as it should. We’re experts at performing this highly complex procedure.
Safe MRI Scans
If you don’t have an MRI-compatible pacemaker, our cardiac MRI department has scanners with special magnets that make it safe for you to get this scan. We’re one of the only centers in the region with the expertise to perform cardiac MRIs on people who have certain cardiac rhythm devices.
Why You Might Need a Pacemaker
Pacemakers help people who have:
- Uncontrollable atrial fibrillation (A-Fib), a fast or irregular heart rate
- Bradycardia, slow heart rate
- Congenital heart defects, heart conditions that are present at birth
- Heart block, slowed electrical signals between heart chambers
- Heart failure or cardiomyopathy, conditions that make the heart too weak to sufficiently pump blood
What to Expect When You Get a Traditional Pacemaker
Traditional pacemakers have several connected parts that work together to keep your heart in rhythm:
- Pulse generator: This flat, oval-shaped battery-powered unit produces and sends electrical signals. Our doctors place the pulse generator underneath the skin on your chest below your collarbone.
- Leads (wires): Leads carry the electrical signals from the generator to the heart wall. Our doctors thread these insulated wires through a large vein in your chest. Leads also send information about your heart’s electrical activity to the pulse generator. This information tells the generator when to send electrical impulses to speed up a heartbeat that’s too slow.
- Electrodes: Electrical signals travel from the generator through the leads to electrodes placed in or near a heart chamber. Depending on the arrhythmia type, you may have electrodes in your upper heart chamber (atrium), lower heart chamber (ventricle) or both chambers. The electrical impulses from the electrode keep your heart in rhythm.
Contact Us
To learn more our EP Clinic and pacemaker services, call 717-544-8300.