AUGUSTA CARDIOLOGY CLINIC PC - WEST AUGUSTA OFFICE

Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At Augusta Cardiology, a physician is on call 24 hours a day.

The heart is composed of four chambers enclosed within a wall of muscle. The upper two chambers (atria) will help fill the lower two chambers (ventricles) with blood. The ventricles are larger and more heavily muscled than the atria. They pump blood to the lungs and throughout the rest of the body.

The heart's natural pacemaker, located in the upper part of the heart, normally regulates your heart rate. This natural pacemaker, called the sino-atrial node (S-A node), is a small cluster of specialized cells that produce electrical signals at regular intervals. The S-A node automatically increases your heart rate in response to your body's needs - for example, during exercise, when a faster blood flow is required.

The electrical impulses sent out by the S-A node travel to the atrioventricular node (A-V node), a second cluster of cells located near the center of the heart. The A-V node then transmits the electrical signals out to the walls of the ventricles.

This natural electrical pathway is very important because when the signals reach the lower heart, both ventricles contract, pumping blood throughout the body. Any problem with this natural electrical pathway may cause a change in heart rate and/or rhythm and effect circulation of blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Sometimes the heart is not able to keep up with the body's need for blood, and your cardiologist may recommend pacemaker implantation.

A pacemaker alters the heart rate to help meet your body's needs. It does this by providing pacing signals that are much like the heart's normal signals. Depending the particular situation, a pacemaker may:

Replace S-A node signals that are delayed or get lost along the pathway between the upper and lower heart; Help maintain a normal timing sequence between the upper and lower heart; Make sure the critical lower chambers of the heart always contract at an adequate rate.