The European Union (EU) has approved a wireless pacemaker, which can be inserted into the body without the requirement of an invasive surgery.
The device is said to be less than 10 percent of the size of a conventional pace maker and has been developed by a U.S. company named Nanostim, which has been recently taken over by St. Jude Medical. The device is designed to be implanted intravenously directly in the heart of a patient. However, the device is still in its early stage of development and is still to receive approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A BBC report suggests that conventional pacemakers require a patient to be cut open and a pocket created in the body to place the pacemaker and its wires. In this process, the wires are likely to fail and the pacemaker is also liable to infection.
On the other hand, the Nanostim pacemaker is inserted in a patient's body via a catheter inserted through the femoral vein near the groin. The procedure to deliver the pacemaker in a patient's body will be around half an hour.
The Nanostim pacemaker will house a built-in battery, which is supposed to be smaller than an AAA battery, which can last between 9 and 13 years. As the non-presence of wires lowers the risk of infection or malfunction of the device, it means that a patient with the Nanostim pacemaker is not restricted in the amount of activity they do. Moreover, Nanostim also claims that the device is designed to be easily retrievable so that the battery can be replaced, if required.
"This is a potentially exciting development but it's early days. Before this leadless pacemaker becomes widely available, we need a better understanding of how long it will last, as well as how easy it is to replace if necessary. As our knowledge of this new pacemaker widens, so too will the expertise needed to fit this potentially exciting device," said Prof Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation.
Cardiac pacemakers are used by many patients globally to treat slow heart rates. Pacemakers usually stimulate the heart when it beats slowly.
The use of Nanotim pacemakers can eliminate the requirement of surgery on patients and ultimately reduce the risks infections caused by conventional pacemakers.
