A blog about what is new (and old) in the world of active implantable medical devices

Category Archives: Cardiac Pacing

Cardiac pacemakers

St. Jude Medical Announces Clinical Benefits of Quadripolar CRT Pacing at ACC

Posted on by Posted in Cardiac Pacing, Heart Failure (CHF), St. Jude Medical
Quadrapolar cardiac resynchronization pacing St Jude Medical Unify Quadra www.implantable-device.com

Image Credit: St. Jude Medical

St. Jude Medical announced that clinical findings on quadripolar pacing will be presented at the 61st Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology (ACC, Chicago, March 24-27 2012).

According to St. Jude’s announcement, quadripolar pacing allows physicians the ability to use multisite left-ventricular (LV) pacing.  Studies that examined the role of multisite pacing in improving hemodynamics and reducing dyssynchrony as compared to traditional bi-ventricular pacing will be presented in the following two posters:

Continue reading→

Medtronic Receives CE Mark for CapSure Sense MRI™ SureScan® Pacing Leads

Posted on by Posted in Cardiac Pacing, Medtronic, MRI-safe
Medtronic SureScan Sense MRI Passive Fixation Leads. www.implantable-device.com

Image Credit: Medtronic

Medtronic today announced the receipt of CE Mark and launch of the CapSure Sense MRI™ SureScan® pacing leads, which are approved for use during MRI procedures.  The newly approved leads are the smallest MR–Conditional leads available in the world with a 5.3 French isodiametric lead body.  The new leads are passive-fixation leads.  Previously approved Medtronic MR–Conditional leads are active fixation leads.

Click here for Medtronic’s product page for the CapSure Sense MRI™ SureScan® Pacing Leads.

iPacemaker Implantable Pacemaker/ICD Database for the iPhone

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, Cardioversion/Defibrillation, Heart Failure (CHF), News, Tachycardia
iPacemaker implantable pacemaker and ICD database for the iPhone

Image Credit: iPacemaker

My friend and colleague Dr. Irit Yaniv alerted me to this iPhone app that was just released.  It is an implantable pacemaker and defibrillator database that, according to its author, displays up to 70 parameters for each model, includes battery and longevity data, and links directly to product manuals. Continue reading→

The Australian Pacemaker: Telectronics (1965-1995)

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, History, Museum, St. Jude Medical, Telectronics (1965-1995)

Telectronics model 150B VVI pacemaker photographed by David Prutchi, Ph.D. www.implantable-device.comIn 1965, Australian medical device pioneer Noel Gray established Telectronics – Australia’s first manufacturing facility for producing pacemakers that were designed in-house.  Telectronics was an innovative developer, achieving some major successes in the early cardiac pacing field, for example, Telectronics’ leads allowed narrowing the pacing pulse to its current nominal of 0.5 milliseconds; encapsulating the pacemaker in titanium instead of epoxy; using a microplasma weld to join the two halves of the pacemaker capsule; creating one of the first rate-responsive ‘demand’ pacemakers; and isolating the pacemaker’s battery in a separate compartment to deal with the problem of leaking mercury-zinc batteries. Continue reading→

Elema-Schoenander and the Very First Human Implants of a Pacemaker in Sweden (1958) and Uruguay (1960)

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, CCC del Uruguay, Elema-Schonander (-1959), History, Museum, Pacesetter, Siemens-Elema (1959-1994), St. Jude Medical

First pacemaker to be implanted in a human patient (1958)

This is a picture of the first pacemaker to be implanted in a human patient.  It was developed by Dr. Rune Elmqvist (1906–1996), a physician by training, but working for the Swedish company Elema-Schonander as an engineer.   Dr. Elmqvist  developed the device in cooperation of Åke Senning, senior physician and cardiac surgeon at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, Sweden. Continue reading→

Crazy Pacemaker Hack: d.i.y. High-Speed Photography

Posted on by Posted in Cardiac Pacing, My Portfolio, Tech Talk

High speed photography by David Prutchi using pacemaker as interval timer

This is a hack that combines three of my favorite passions: pacemakers, photography, and coffee!

I took this photograph by feeding the output of an infrared barrier to the atrium input of an old DDD pacemaker, setting an appropriate AV delay, and using the ventricular output to trigger a camera flash (via a optoisolator).  In a darkened room, I opened my camera’s shutter for 2 seconds.  I then let one drop of milk fall through the infrared barrier, starting the AV delay in VAT mode.  The flash then fires as the drop enters the coffee in the cup, freezing the action. Continue reading→

Intermedics’ First Pacemakers (Mid 1970s)

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, History, Intermedics (1974-1999), Museum

Intermedics InterLith Pacemakers from the mid-1970s

In 1973, former Medtronic sales representative Albert Beutel founded Intermedics in Freeport, TX.  The first product was a small, mercury-cell-powered pacemaker.  In 1974 Intermedics introduced a lithium-powered version, and in 1976 it introduced InterLith which was hermetically sealed, and weighed just 65 grams.  At the time, InterLith’s size was a breakthrough, and became a very popular device, solidifying Intermedics’ position in the industry.

 

Original Datasheet for Arco’s Nuclear Pacemakers (ca. 1974)

Posted on by Posted in Arco Medical (1969-1980), Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, History, Museum, Nuclear Batteries

Original Arco Medical datasheet for NU5 plutonium-powered nuclear pacemaker

Some time ago, my friend and colleague Paul Spehr gave me a copy of Arco Medical’s product catalog.  I scanned the original datasheets for Arco Medical’s nuclear fixed-rate and demand pacemakers models NU-5 and NU-6 and posted them here in pdf format: Arco_Nuclear_Datasheets

Click here for a color picture and more information on Arco Medical’s nuclear pacemakers.

 

American Optical Cardio-Care Demand Pacemaker (1968)

Posted on by Posted in American Optical (1965-1975), Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, History, Museum

American Optical Cardio-Care Implantable Demand Pacemaker (1968)

Barouh Berkovits at American Optical Co of Boston, MA designed the first “Demand Pacemaker” – what we now know as a VVI pacemaker. The Cardio-Care Demand Pacemaker, introduced in 1968, was American Optical’s first implantable device.

From Kirk Jeffrey’s Machines in our Hearts(2001):

“Berkovits in 1963 designed a sensing capability into the pacemaker. His invention behaved exactly like an asynchronous pacer until it detected a naturally occurring R wave, the indication of a ventricular contraction. This event would reset the timing circuit of the pacemaker, and the countdown to the next stimulus would begin anew. Thus the pacer stimulated the heart only when the ventricles failed to contract. It worked only ‘‘on demand.’’ As an added benefit, noncompetitive pacing extended the life of the battery. Continue reading→

Biotectix

Posted on by Posted in Biotectix, Brain Stimulation, Cardiac Pacing, Electrode Materials, Electrodes, Tech Talk
Biotectix electrically conductive polymers for implantable devices
Image Credit: Biotectix

Biotectix of Ann Arbor, MI recently contacted me to let me know of new conductive polymer materials that they are developing to enhance the performance of next-gen implantable stimulation and sensing devices.

Indeed, their materials sound very promising.  According to Biotectix, their electrode coatings and device components are made from proprietary conducting polymers that provide intimate, long-term electrical and biological connections between implantable electrodes and the target tissue.  They offer the conductivity and stability of metals at a low-cost with the ease of processing and biological functionality of polymers. Continue reading→

A Challenge to History Buffs: Who Was Digikon?

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, Digikon, History, Museum

Digikon model LD451 Ventricular Inhibited Pulse Generator

I took this picture a very long time ago at the office of one of my implanter friends in Europe.  Ever since then, I’ve tried to find out about “Digikon,” but have had no luck so far.  All that I have been able to find from the St. Jude legacy device database is that Digikon had produced a number of pacemaker models, including the one shown in this picture.

Do you know anything about Digikon?  Please let me know!

Cook Pacemaker’s Sensor Kelvin 504 Central-Venous-Temperature-Sensing Pacemaker (ca. 1992)

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, Cook Pacemaker, History, Museum

Cook Pacemakers Sensor Kelvin Model 504 central-venous-temperature-sensing rate-responsive pacemaker

In 1983, Bill Cook and Dr. Neal Fearnot began to work under the Cook Pacemaker Company in Leechburg, PA on developing the technology developed by Dr. Fearnot at Purdue University into an improved prototype for a temperature-based exercise responsive pacemaker that was released in 1988 as the Kelvin Sensor rate-responsive pacemaker.  One of the first CVT rate-adaptive pacemakers was the Cook Model Kelvin 500 series. Continue reading→

Intermedics’ Circadia Central Venous Temperature-Sensing Pacemaker (ca. 1993)

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, History, Intermedics (1974-1999), Museum

Intermedics Circadia central-venous-temperature-sensing rate-responsive pacemaker

Back side of Intermedics Circadia pacemaker. Labeling shows special connector for temperature-sensing lead.

The Circadia pacemaker was one of the very few devices that had a lead-borne thermistor to measure cental venous temperature (CVT) as a sensor for rate-response.

A unique feature of this pacemaker was an iridium-oxide (IrOx)-coated button welded to the can.  It was believed that this button would improve unipolar IEGM sensing and reduce unipolar pacing thresholds (it didn’t). Continue reading→

Cook’s Sensor Kelvin and Intermedics’ Circadia Temperature-Sensing Rate-Responsive Pacemakers

Posted on by Posted in Bradycardia, Cardiac Pacing, Cook Pacemaker, History, Intermedics (1974-1999), Museum

 

Cook Pacemaker's Kelvin and Intermedics' Circadia central venous temperature-controlled rate-responsive pacemakersOne of the indicators of metabolic demand that has been used for controlling the rate of pacemakers is central venous blood temperature (CVT).

In 1983, Bill Cook and Dr. Neal Fearnot began to work under the Cook Pacemaker Company on developing the technology developed by Dr. Fearnot at Purdue University into an improved prototype for a temperature-based exercise responsive pacemaker that was released in 1988 as the Kelvin Sensor rate-responsive pacemaker.  One of the first CVT rate-adaptive pacemakers was the Cook Model Kelvin 500 series.

Another one of the first CVT rate-adaptive pacemakers was the Intermedics Nova MR, which differs from the Kelvin 500 series in that its pacing algorithm had a more dynamic HR response. Continue reading→