Can heart failure patients live longer by having a pacemaker implanted?
Disease description:
My father's colleague is a heart failure patient. I would like to ask, if a heart failure patient receives a pacemaker, will it help them live longer?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Tian Hongbo
Pacemakers can help prolong life and improve quality of life for certain patients with heart failure. Particularly for those patients with heart failure accompanied by abnormalities of the cardiac conduction system or asynchronous ventricular contraction, implantation of dual-chamber or triple-chamber pacemakers (including CRT-D/CRT-P) can improve cardiac pumping function, reduce symptoms of heart failure, and increase the five-year survival rate up to 50%. In some super responders, the five-year survival rate may exceed 80%, and survival for 10 to 20 years is possible.
Not all patients with heart failure benefit from pacemakers. If a patient's heart failure is severe or if daily care is improper and medical advice is not followed, even with a pacemaker implanted, life expectancy may still be shortened. Additionally, for heart failure mainly caused by valvular disease or hypertension, the effectiveness of pacemakers may be limited.
Therefore, in addition to pacemaker therapy, patients with heart failure also need to pay attention to daily care and maintain healthy lifestyle habits, such as smoking cessation, alcohol abstinence, balanced diet, and appropriate exercise.
