Classes & Events

What’s a Cardiac Device?

If you have a heart arrhythmia, your doctor may decide you need a cardiac device to correct your irregular heartbeat. A cardiac device is usually considered when other treatments do not work. 

Your doctor will surgically insert a small electrical device, such as a pacemaker, under the skin of your chest or abdomen. This device sends electrical pulses to restore normal heart rhythm.

Types of Cardiac Devices

Your cardiac device may be a:

• Pacemaker – Small, wireless device attached to the heart to control a slow heartbeat and keep it beating at a normal rate
• Biventricular pacemaker – Pacemaker with a third wire to send impulses to the heart to synchronize the lower-left chambers (ventricles)
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) – Device that delivers an electrical impulse to return a fast heartbeat (ventricular arrhythmia) to a regular heartbeat
• Loop recorder – Wireless cardiac device that records your heart rhythm

Follow-Up Care & Device Checks

With long-term care and monitoring from AnMed, you can enjoy continued heart health after you get an implanted device. Your electrophysiologist (arrhythmia specialist) and cardiologist can learn valuable information about your heart and device functioning during follow-up visits to the Cardiac Device Clinic.

Pacemakers and implantable defibrillators are extremely reliable medical devices. Still, it’s important to have your devices checked regularly or monitored at home via wireless data transmission to the clinic. Talk to your doctor about how often you need to come in.

What to Expect at Your Visit

Specially trained device technicians at AnMed gather stored information from your device electronically. An EP will evaluate the data. Depending on the findings and symptoms you report, your EP may adjust how your device works. We make most device adjustments during your appointment.
 

What to Expect

You’ll need a doctor’s referral to our clinic, located on the first floor of AnMed Cardiac and Orthopaedic Center (suite 1120). During your first appointment, we’ll evaluate your overall health and perform a risk assessment. You may need to take certain heart tests so we can learn more about how to best help you. 

Based on the results, we’ll recommend a custom care plan that could include:

• Nutrition counseling
• Lifestyle changes
• Medication 
• Care for psychosocial needs
• Advance care planning 
• Cardiac rehabilitation
• Cardiac device placement
• Surgery

To help you progress, we’ll schedule frequent appointments over four to six weeks. Bring a list of your current medications and weight log to each visit. Our dedicated cardiologists, nurse practitioners, nurses and dietitians will work with your primary care doctor to help you succeed.

When Should I Call the Clinic? 

Call us at 864-512-4464 if you experience mild to moderate heart failure symptoms, such as:

• Leg swelling
• Mild shortness of breath
• Weight gain

If you feel like you can’t breathe, seek emergency care right away. 

Awarded for Excellent Care

Our clinic can help you prevent a hospital stay for heart failure treatment, but if you need to go to the hospital, you’ll be in good hands at AnMed Medical Center. We earned:

• Gold recognition—the highest level—from the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines® Heart Failure Achievement program in 2021. That means we consistently provided the right treatments at the right time for two years.
• “High Performing Hospital” designation in heart failure from U.S. News & World Report 
   

What Do Clinical Trials Study? 

Heart and vascular clinical trials at AnMed have researched conditions and procedures such as: 

• Cardiac ablation for arrhythmia 
• Heart failure
• Heart valve surgery
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Pacemaker and defibrillator implants
• Use of stents (tiny tubes) to keep arteries open

Participating in a Clinical Trial

According to the National Institutes of Health, steps to join a clinical trial include: 

1. Study staff explain the trial in detail and gather more information about you.
2. Once you have had all your questions answered and agree to participate, you sign an informed consent form.
3. You are screened to make sure you qualify for the trial.
4. If accepted into the trial, you schedule a first visit (called the “baseline” visit). The researchers conduct health tests during this visit.
5. You are randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. (If you’re a control group member, you don’t receive the new treatment. But researchers compare your outcome to patients who did receive it, so they know if the treatment made a difference.)
6. You follow the trial procedures and report any issues or concerns to researchers.
7. You may visit the research site at regularly scheduled times for new cognitive, physical, or other evaluations and discussions with staff. At these visits, the research team collects information about the effects of the treatment and your safety and well-being.
8. Throughout the study, you continue to see your regular AnMed physician for usual health care.
    

Do I Need Heart Rehabilitation?

Your doctor may recommend our supervised exercise and education program if you have:

• Coronary artery disease
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Heart procedure or surgery

We’ll customize the program for your health needs, age, lifestyle and other factors, so you get the most benefit from it.

How Cardiac Rehabilitation Helps

When you follow your rehabilitation plan, you may experience:

• Fewer cardiovascular symptoms, such as chest pain
• More energy for daily tasks
• Less anxiety and depression
• Lower risk of future heart conditions
• Better overall health

What Cardiac Rehab Involves 

You’ll meet with our team of exercise physiologists (medical exercise specialists), nurses, dietitians and other professionals three times a week for 12 weeks.