World's smallest pacemaker is 'vitamin-sized'!

A new research has revealed about the new investigational cardiac pacemaker, which is as small as a multivitamin that is one-tenth the size of conventional ones.

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.

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.