Your doctor will determine the therapy that is most effective for your particular medical condition. Your doctor will determine the therapy that is most effective for your particular medical condition. A defibrillator can improve quality of life and reduce the symptoms of atrial fibrillation. The defibrillator quickly senses and treats AF or other abnormal atrial rhythms, possibly before the person feels any symptoms. The defibrillator can be set to operate in a variety of ways and the physician prescribing the device will determine which is most appropriate.
Defibrillators can also reduce the amount of time that people spend in an abnormal rhythm.
For certain AF patients, this is the right therapy. The Medtronic Gem III AT is an implantable defibrillator approved to treat symptomatic, drug-refractory patients who experience symptoms due to their AF and who do not get complete relief from medication. When an ablation procedure has eliminated the atrial arrhythmia, the heart rate may be too slow. When this happens, a pacemaker is implanted to increase the heart rate. Click here for more information on pacemakers.