Defibrillators and pacemakers are devices that are implemented inside the body and their function has to do with the activity of the heart. Those would be the main characteristics that they share, but, although they are often confused, they are two different devices and that they fulfill a different role in relation to heart health.
As a consequence of these distinctions, patients who require a defibrillator or a pacemaker have very particular conditions, which will determine which of these two devices they should receive.
A pacemaker is an electronic device made up of electrodes and a pulse generator. Its implementation takes place in the front part of the chest, on the pectoral muscle, approximately below the clavicle. The function that a pacemaker has to fulfill has to do with the rhythm of the heart. That is, its role is to identify and stimulate it if the heart rate is considered to be low.
This is achieved by generating electrical impulses.
For its part, the defibrillator has an antitachycardia function, this means that, when the heartbeat accelerates, this device produces an electrical impulse that manages to control them and achieve normal heart rhythm recovery.
Among the similarities of pacemakers and defibrillators is the fact that they are placed in similar places and that their components are similar as well. However, "the pacemaker is a little smaller and simpler," explains cardiologist Federico Segura. And, furthermore, the capabilities of these devices differ from each other. "The defibrillator is a larger device that has the function of a pacemaker", apart from his own "detect fast arrhythmias", clarifies the specialist.
The patients in whom the pacemaker is used are, generally, older people in whom their “electrical system is aging”. So the heart rate slows down and there is a risk of stopping. The case of those in whom a defibrillator is implemented is very different, since they are patients who have survived a sudden death accident or are at high risk of suffering one. So the defibrillator acts as a preventive device.
However, it must be borne in mind that there are different types of defibrillators and pacemakers. The former are usually differentiated by their capacity for autonomy, the level of the download they generate and the place where they are implemented. On the other hand, pacemakers are generally divided into two large groups. The first is that of the temporary ones, formed by the transcutaneous and intravenous pacemakers; and, the second, that of permanent pacemakers, which are subcutaneous.
