Smallest Pacemaker of the World - 'Vitamin Pill-Sized'

A new cardiac pacemaker, still in investigational stage, is as small as a multivitamin pill, reveals a new research. This would be one-tenth the size of conventional pacemakers.

Arrhythmias - Palpitation - Causes - Types - Evaluation - Management
Palpitations are unpleasant sensation of one’s own heartbeat.

Cardiologists at Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital (BHVH) implanted the world's smallest pacemaker, the Medtronic Micra(tm) Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) as part of a study by Medtronic.

Principal investigator Robert C. Kowal said that this is an investigational device that could be a game-changer because of its size and the technology housed inside of it.

Kowal added that this miniaturized technology is designed to provide patients with the advanced pacing technology of traditional pacemakers via a minimally invasive approach.

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Kowal continued that in the past, they made a surgical incision in the chest and created a 'pocket' under the skin where they placed the pacemaker, but this one is placed inside the heart via catheter, which eliminates a potential source of complications and any visible sign of the device.

The miniature device does not require the use of wires, known as "leads," to connect to the heart and is attached to the heart via small tines; and then the pacemaker delivers electrical impulses that pace the heart via an electrode.

Animation of heart attack symptoms
Heart attack can cause symptoms such as Chest pain or discomfort, Shortness of breath and pain in neck, back, arm, or shoulder and is due to blockage of blood supply to the heart muscles

Source-ANI

Angioplasty
Arteries supplying the heart is sometimes blocked by plaque leading to heart attack.Angioplasty is a method by which a part of the blocked artery is expanded to place a stent.Once this is done normal blood flow resumes and the heart regains its normal function.