An artificial pacemaker is used when a person's own heart pacemaker is not working properly. It is an electronic device for stimulating the heart.
Heart muscles contract regularly. However, their natural rate (about 40 beats per minute) is too slow. To increase the rate to around 70 beats, the heart has its own pacemaker. This is a small mass, or node, of nerve tissues in the right auricle.
Certain heart diseases cause this pacemaker to fail. However, the heart can be kept going with a battery powered electronic pacemaker. Some artificial pacemakers are implanted in the chest. Others are small enough to be passed along a vein to the heart. The simplest pacemakers keep the heart going at a steady 70 beats per minute. But sometimes it is possible to get the person's own nervous system to control the pacemaker. In this case the heart can still beat faster or slower according to the body's needs.
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