Hyderabad : Continental Hospitals, Hyderabad today announced that it is the first hospital in the city and first in Twin States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to implant the world’s smallest pacemaker in a81 year old patient with bradycardia. This leadless pacemaker, which has been approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only a year back, is a new type of heart device that offers the most advanced pacing technology at one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker.
This first implant in twin states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was performed by Dr. Bharat VPurohit,Senior Consultant and Chief of Interventional Cardiology, Continental Hospitals, Hyderabad.
Pacemakers are the most common way to treat Bradycardia to help restore the heart’s normal rhythm
and relieve symptoms by sending electrical impulses to the heart to increase the heart rate.
“This81 year old gentleman had slow heartbeat (Sick Sinus Syndrome) and was suggested a pacemaker. In view of prior history of angioplasty for which he is on blood thinner(Antiplatelet Agents) and hence stopping these medicines for doing conventional Pacemaker would have caused a risk. Besides in view of advanced age,he was very reluctant for any surgical procedure. Hence option of this leadless pacemaker was discussed and decided.
This new Leadless pacemaker is implanted through the leg. It attaches directly to the walls of the heart and gives electrical signals for maintaining a normal heart rate. This new pacemaker is entirely MRI compatible and can adjust the heart rate according to the patient’s activity and needs of the body.” Said Dr. Bharat V Purohit.
Comparable in size to a large vitamin capsule, doctor decided to use the leadless pacemaker because unlike traditional pacemakers, the device does not require cardiac wires (leads) or “a surgical pocket under the skin to deliver pacing therapy.)
Leadless pacemaker is a boon for patients who have an infection from earlier implanted pacemaker or its leads or blocked veins in the chest or who is a poor candidate of any surgical procedure or who is on blood thinner which can lead to bleeding complications during surgical pocket formation.
It has reduced the complications and risks associated with the routine pacemaker by almost 50%,like lead infection, pacemaker pocket infection, venous obstruction etc.”,
said Dr. Bharat V Purohit. (Reference shared at the bottom of the article) The Leadless Pacemaker also incorporates a retrieval feature to enable retrieval of the device when possible; however, the device is designed to be left in the body. For patients who need more than one heart device,
the miniaturized leadless pacemaker is designed with a unique feature that enables it to be permanently turned off so it can remain in the body and a new device can be implanted without risk of electrical interaction.
It is the first and only transcatheter pacing system to be approved for both 1.5 and 3 Tesla (T) full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, providing patients with access to the
most advanced imaging diagnostic procedures available, if and when they need one.