Pacemaker

Indian-origin scientist makes leadless pacemaker

VIVEK REDDYThe world’s first leadless pacemaker, developed by an Indian-origin scientist Vivek Reddy, has shown promising results after one year of human trials on 32 patients who received the pacemaker.

“This is the first time we have seen one-year follow-up data for this innovative, wireless cardiac pacing technology. Our results show the leadless pacemaker is comparable to traditional pacemakers,” said Reddy, director of arrhythmia services at the Mount Sinai Hospital here.

The findings further support the promising performance and safety of this minimally-invasive, non-surgical pacing device.

The follow-up study evaluated 32 patients with a slowed heartbeat (bradycardia) who successfully received St. Jude Medical’s “Nanostim” leadless pacemaker at two hospitals in Prague and one in Amsterdam.

“There was no experience of infections or failure to sense, pace or communicate with the pacemaker,” Reddy noted.

The leadless cardiac pacemaker is placed directly inside a patient’s heart without surgery during a catheter-guided procedure through the groin via the femoral vein.

The device, resembling a tiny, silver tube and smaller than a triple-A battery, is only a few centimetres in length, making it less than 10 percent the size of a traditional pacemaker.

It works by closely monitoring the heart’s electrical rhythms and if the heart beat is too slow it provides electrical stimulation therapy to regulate it.

“More long-term follow-up of these ‘leadless’ study patients will further our understanding of the potential advantages, benefits, and complication risks of leadless pacemaker technology, along with additional ongoing, larger trials,” Reddy said.

leadless-pacemaker

More than four million patients globally have a pacemaker, and 700,000 new patients receive one each year.

Reddy presented the one-year ‘leadless’ study data findings at ‘Heart Rhythm 2014,’ the Heart Rhythm Society’s 35th annual scientific sessions in San Francisco city in the US May 9.

Source: Times of India

SGPGI doctors implant pacemaker in 105-year-old patient

Dr Naveen Garg, professor, department of cardiology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow claims to have successfully implanted a pacemaker in a 105-year old man.

According to Dr Garg, the patient had complete heart block, which led to multiple complications including lung infection and renal insufficiency. Besides, he weighed just 30 kilos at the time of surgery, which involved implantation of a cardiac pacemaker.

Dr Garg said the man could be the oldest patient in India and third oldest patient in the world to get cardiac pacemaker. Oldest age at the time of pacemaker implantation in the world is 107 years, according to the Guinness World Records.

Giving more details, Dr Garg informed that the patient was brought to SGPGIMS in the first week of March in an extremely frail condition.

The primary problem the patient suffered from was repeated Stokes Adam episodes and hypoxic encephalopathy. His heart rate was just 36 beats per minutes with intermittent long pauses. Along with this, he had developed lung infections and renal insufficiency, according to Dr Garg.

Dr Garg further said the biggest problem was that the patient was severely underweight. He did not have sufficient space below the collarbone to implant the pacemaker, the usual site for implantation.

As a solution to the problem, Dr Garg changed the approach and implanted the VVI pacemaker in the armpit. The procedure was less invasive and helped in providing relief to the patient by helping the heart work normally, according to Dr Garg.

The doctors claimed the patient was stable and noted that the family had a history of living longer. “The patient is being nursed by 100-year-old brother and a 70-year-old son,” said Dr Garg.

According to Dr Garg, the surgery was performed on March 7 and the patient was discharged on March 11.

Source: India Medical Times

US firm brings next generation pacemaker in India

St Jude Medical Inc, a global medical device company, today announced the launch of next generation pacemaker in India.

The NYSE-listed firm announced the first commercial implant of `Allure Quadra’, a cardiac resynchronisation therapy pacemaker (CRT-P), in the country.

The first-to-market quadripolar pacemaker system offers more pacing options for patients with heart failure (HF), a company release said here.

Quadripolar leads allow for increased implant efficiencies, which clinical data indicates can result in fewer surgical revisions. Broad clinical evidence on the advantages of the quadripolar technology has been documented in more than 100 publications worldwide, it said.

Explaining how this new technology works, Anil Saxena of Fortis Escorts Hospital, said: “Historically, pacing systems that treat heart failure included a lead with only one electrode in the heart. Later, these were replaced by leads with two electrodes.

“Nearly 40 per cent of patients do not effectively benefit from traditional pacing due to potential complications all of which require repeat surgeries.”

The new technology has four electrodes and 10 programmable pacing configurations, allowing electro-physiologists to manage their patients with greater flexibility and improved patient outcomes, Saxena said.

The worldwide prevalence of heart failure has been rising over the last few decades. More than 26 million people globally suffer from HF, with a prevalence rate in India estimated to range from 1.3 to 4.6 million people.