My friend, Dr. Alain Ripart – the Chief Scientific Officer at Ela Medical (now part of Sorin) showed me this interesting contraption from his personal collection. It is an experimental glucose-powered pacemaker developed in the 1970s. It generated electricity by acquiring its fuel (glucose) directly from a living body to generate enough current to charge two NiCd cells that powered the pacemaker. Continue reading
Barouh Berkovits at American Optical Co of Boston, MA designed the first “Demand Pacemaker” – what we now know as a VVI pacemaker. As other companies in the 1970s, American Optical developed a nuclear-battery-powered version of their pacemaker.
American Optical used a 3Ci Pu-238 Radioisotope Thermal Generator (RTG) produced by Fred Hittman’s Hittman Nuclear Development Corp. (Model NB-200). It consisted of a tiny 8 Ci slug of metallic Plutonium 238 (Pu-238). The radiation produced by the Pu-238 bombarded the walls of its container, producing heat that a thermopile then converted to an electrical current. A thermopile is a stack of thermocouples, which are devices that convert thermal energy directly into electrical energy using Seebeck effect. The thermocouple was made of two kinds of metal (or semiconductors) connected to each other in a closed loop. If the two junctions are at different temperatures, an electric current will flow in the loop. Continue reading
Image Credit: Arco Medical Products Co. (1974)
An isotopic thermoelectric generator was developed in the US by Numec Corporation under a contract from the US Atomic Energy Commission and sold for $3,200 (back in 1974). The thermopile consisted of doped bismuth telluride pairs that were placed in a parallel/series arrangement to generate some 300 μW of power to run this Arco Medical model NU-5F pacemaker. Continue reading
In the late 1960s Medtronic – today the largest manufacturer of implantable medical devices in the world – teamed up with Alcatel, a French company, to design a nuclear-powered pacemaker. The first human implant of the device took place in Paris in 1970.
The nuclear battery in the Medtronic device used a tiny 2.5 Ci slug of metallic Plutonium 238 (Pu-238). The radiation produced by the Pu-238 bombarded the walls of its container, producing heat that a thermopile then converted to an electrical current. A thermopile is a stack of thermocouples, which are devices that convert thermal energy directly into electrical energy using Seebeck effect. A thermocouple is made of two kinds of metal (or semiconductors) connected to each other in a closed loop. If the two junctions are at different temperatures, an electric current will flow in the loop. Continue reading
This nuclear pacemaker was manufactured ca. 1972 by Dr. Orestes Fiandra’s CCC del Uruguay. It was powered by a McDonell-Douglas Betacel 400 which had promethium-147 sandwiched between semiconductor wafers. As the radioactive promethium isotope decays, it emits β-particles (electrons). The impact of the β-particles on a p-n junction causes a forward bias in the semiconductor similar to what happens in a photovoltaic cell (a solar cell).
The Betacel 400 had an open-circuit voltage of 4.7V and a short circuit current of 115μA. The maximum power output was 370μW. CCC’s pacemaker was expected to last for 10 years when powered by this nuclear battery. Continue reading
Shree Pacetronix Ltd., was founded in Pithampur, Dist. Dhar, India in 1988. In 1993 the company was converted to a Public Limited Company. The company is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and regional exchanges.
Pacetronix’s website shows EC type certificates for its Pinnacle SSIR (model 297), Pinnacle SSI (model 8820), Charak DDD (model ND 747), and Akash VDD (model ND 244) pacemakers. Continue reading
This is one of my most prized possessions. It is one of the very first pacemakers produced by CCC del Uruguay in 1969. It was given to me by my friend, the late Dr. Orestes Fiandra, founder of CCC del Uruguay.
On February 2, 1960, Dr. Orestes Fiandra and Dr. Roberto Rubio accomplished the first succesful long-term human implant of a pacemaker. The pacemaker was manufactured by Dr. Rune Elmqvist of Elema-Schönander in Sweden, and was implanted in Uruguay in a 34-year-old patient with AV block. This unit worked successfully for nine and a half months, until the patient died of sepsis from an unrelated infection.
In 1969, Dr. Fiandra started the “Centro de Construccion de Cardioestimuladores del Uruguay” (CCC for short) with the purpose of producing pacemakers for use in Latin America at prices well under those of American devices. The device in the photograph above is one of these devices – a simple VOO pacemaker powered by 5 mercury cells encapsulated in epoxy resin.
CCC is one of the oldest pacemaker manufacturers in the world. It was founded in 1969 by Dr. Orestes Fiandra, who performed the first succesful, human, long-term pacemaker implant in the world.This was achieved in Uruguay on February 2, 1960 by Dr. Orestes Fiandra and Dr. Roberto Rubio. The pacemaker was manufactured by Dr. Rune Elmqvist of Elema-Schönander in Sweden, and was implanted in Uruguay in a 34-year-old patient with AV block. This unit worked successfully for nine and a half months, until the patient died of sepsis from an unrelated infection. Continue reading
Omikron Scientific was a small-scale pacemaker company founded in Rehovot, Israel in 1979. The company stopped pacemaker production in 1985.
Besides pacemakers, Omikron also produced a skin substitute called Omniderm, which was a thin, transparent, flexible membrane. It was used when a biological dressing would otherwise have been used.
Omikron’s pacemakers were all VVI and featured gradual decline Magnet Rate & Programmed Rate. Models included the 811 (6.5 year longevity), 811L (10 year longevity), 811XL (14 year longevity), 821 (VVIM with 8 year longevity), 837, a 838 (6.5 year longevity).
Click here for Omikron’s patents.
From US Patent Application Publication US 2009/0163889 A1
MicroTransponder was founded in Dallas, TX in 2007 when it licensed technology developed at University of Texas in Dallas (UTD) by Larry Cauller, who heads the cortical connections lab. The first wireless transponder was developed under a DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics grant to create a bi-directional neural interface for a prosthetic hand. Continue reading
Northstar was founded in 1999 as Vertis Neuroscience headquartered in Seattle, WA, and the original goal was to develop electrical stimulation for chronic back pain. In 2003, under its new name, Northstar Neuroscience, then developed the Renova cortical stimulation system to deliver targeted electrical stimulation to the brain cortex as a treatment for stroke-related upper extremity. Continue reading
Intrapace was founded in Mountain View, CA by Mir Imran in 2001 to develop an implantable system for the treatment of obesity. Once implanted and activated, the Abiliti system is designed to detect when a person consumes food or drink. When food or drink is detected, the system delivers a series of low-energy electrical impulses to the stomach intended to create a feeling of fullness.
In January 2011 Intrapace received the CE Mark for the Ability system.
The Ability IPG connects to the stomach via a lead that integrates the food sensor and stimulation electrodes. The sensor is able to detect food and drink and can trigger the abiliti stimulator device to create a feeling of fullness. These eating events, along with physical activity the patient engages in, are automatically recorded and available for downloading to a personal computer using the connect.abiliti Wand. Continue reading
Transneuronix, Inc. was founded in 1995 and was based in Mount Arlington, New Jersey. It was acquired by Medtronic in 2005.
Before its acqusition by Medtronic, Transneuronix developed the Transcend, an implantable gastric stimulator device for the treatment of obesity by electrical stimulation of the stomach. Later, Medtronic developed the Transcend II IPG. Continue reading
EnteroMedics Inc. was founded in St. Paul, MN in 2002 to develop a platform for vagus-nerve stimulation, primarily for obesity management. In March 2011 EnteroMedics received the CE Mark for its second-generation system – the Maestro RC.
The EnteroMedics Maestro RC device delivers VBLOC® vagal blocking therapy to through laparoscopically implanted leads to intermittently block the vagus nerves using high-frequency, low-energy electrical impulses. VBLOC Therapy is intended to target the multiple digestive functions under control of the vagus nerves and to affect the perception of hunger and fullness. Continue reading
Transoma was the name that Data Sciences International of St Paul, MN adopted in 2003 when it re-fucused its animal telemetry implant business to develop an implantable wireless system to capture electrocardiogram data for diagnosing human cardiac arrhythmias, as well as to monitor the electrical activity of the heart and transmit data from the patient’s home to monitoring centers.
In 2007, Transoma received FDA’s approval for its Sleuth implantable device to wirelessly monitor a patient’s ECG for possible diagnosis of arrhythmias and prevention of syncopal episodes. The Sleuth ECG Monitoring System included a High Definition Implantable Loop Recorder (HD-ILR), a Personal Diagnostic Manager, a Base Station and a Monitoring Center staffed 24/7. Continue reading