It weighs only 1 gram, is 24 mm in size and 6 mm in diameter. The smallest pacemakers in the world were implanted in four Poles on Monday and Tuesday. They are about 90 percent. smaller and lighter than previously used starters.
On Monday, at the Independent Public Central Teaching Hospital at ul. In Banach, doctors implanted pacemakers in two men with multiple complications after attempts to implant classic pacemakers. The next day, similar operations were performed at the Independent Public Clinical Hospital No. 2 PUM in Szczecin. There, the treatments were carried out by prof. Jarosław Kaźmierczak, national consultant in the field of cardiology.
The implanted device is 24 mm in size, about 6 mm in diameter, weighs 1 gram, and is 90 percent. smaller and lighter than conventional starters. – Miniaturization is not the only advantage of these stimulators – emphasizes Dr. Marcin Grabowski, who together with Dr. hab. Przemysław Mitkowski, he conducted operations in Warsaw. – They are also less reliable because they do not have long, easily damaged electrodes.
Modern pacemakers are implanted through a vein in the groin without opening the chest. This greatly reduces the invasiveness of the procedure – not even a scar remains. The device is inserted into the right ventricle of the heart, is hooked on and stays there.
– These microstimulators are at the same time an electrode, a battery and a computer program that analyzes the heart rhythm and regulates its work – adds Dr. Grabowski.
In patients whose condition or risk of complications prevents major surgery, implanting a new type of pacemaker, although six times more expensive than conventional devices, is practically the only treatment option.
The small pacemaker has two practical advantages: the patient does not have to remember about it when checking in at the airport. It also does not prevent magnetic resonance imaging.