Arrhythmias / arrhythmia surgery

Cardiac arrhythmias can be apparent as an excessively slow or excessively fast heart rate. If the pulse rate is too slow, a cardiac pacemaker must be inserted. We use a dual-chamber system wherever possible in order to coordinate the atria and ventricles optimally.

An excessively fast pulse rate, which can culminate in life-threatening ventricular fibrillation, can necessitate implantation of a defibrillator (electric shock device). Triple-chamber systems are also implanted for the treatment of heart failure, which are intended to improve cardiac performance by synchronising the heart’s action.

Our cardiac surgery clinic can look back at a long tradition with many decades of experience in the implantation of pacemaker systems. More than 600 cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators are inserted annually. Over 6000 patients have been treated with such systems in past years.

The systems are implanted and followed up in interdisciplinary collaboration between cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and paediatric cardiologists according to national and international guidelines.

In atrial fibrillation, the normal heart rhythm can be restored here by operative disabling of the responsible areas of the atrium.
Surgical treatment or correction of additional cardiac conduction pathways (e.g. WPW syndrome) or long QT syndrome can also be carried out.