First Leadless Pacemaker Implanted at Northwest Medical Center

2/19/2018

Tucson, AZ (February 16, 2018) —Northwest Medical Center announced today it is one of the first hospitals in Arizona to implant a wireless, pill-sized pacemaker for a patient with bradycardia. The new heart device, approved for Medicare reimbursement, provides patients with advanced pacing technology at one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker. The first procedure at Northwest was performed by Dr. Joseph Vaglio on February 9, 2018.

Comparable in size to a large vitamin, physicians at Northwest Medical Center have elected to use this new pacemaker for some patients because unlike traditional pacemakers, the device does not require cardiac wires (leads) or a surgical “pocket” under the skin to deliver a pacing therapy.

According to Vaglio, “The device is small enough to be delivered through a catheter and implanted directly into the heart with small tines. Patients avoid the complications associated with leads and the pacemaker is cosmetically invisible. The new technology automatically adjusts pacing therapy based on a patient’s activity levels.”

Bradycardia is a condition characterized by a slow or irregular heart rhythm, usually fewer than 60 beats per minute. At this rate, the heart is unable to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the body during normal activity or exercise, causing dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath or fainting spells. Pacemakers are the most common way to treat bradycardia to help restore the heart's normal rhythm and relieve symptoms by sending electrical impulses to the heart to increase the heart rate.

This is the first and only transcatheter pacing system to be approved for both 1.5 and 3 Tesla (T) full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and is designed to allow patients to be followed by their physicians and send data remotely via a secure network.

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