World's smallest Pacemaker - Implant requires no surgery

So far pacemakers have been implanted into the patients' body through surgery by making incision above a patient’s heart. The surgery is required to dig a cavity into which they can implant the heartbeat-regulating device, and then connect the pulse generator to wires delivered through a vein near the collarbone. 

But that was past.

Technology now has enabled the makers of pacemakers to develop pacemakers so small small that these can be injected through blood vessels into the heart. 

Now, doctors can employ miniaturized wireless pacemakers that can be delivered into the heart through a major vein in the thigh.

This world's smallest pacemaker was successfully implanted into a patient in Australia on Monday - the first participant in a human trial of what device-manufacturer Medtronic.

Doctors implanted this tiny pacemakers into the heart through blood vessels, via an incision in the thigh. They used steerable, flexible tubes called catheters to push the pacemakers through a large vein.

The device is 24 millimetres long and 0.75 cubic centimetres in volume—a tenth the size of a conventional pacemaker. Earlier this year, another device manufacturer, St. Jude Medical, bought a start-up called Nanostim that makes another tiny pacemaker, and St. Jude is offering it to patients in Europe. This device is 41 millimetres long and one cubic centimetre in volume.

Read more about it at:MIT Technology Review

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