Kathmandu. Scientists said on Wednesday they had developed the world’s smallest pacemaker. It is a temporary heart rate controller smaller than a grain of rice, the scientists said. It can be injected and controlled by light before dissolving.
While still years away from human trials, the wireless pacemaker has been hailed as a “transformative advance” and could lead to advances in other areas of medicine. Millions of people around the world have permanent pacemakers. These pacemakers stimulate the heart with electrical impulses to ensure the heart beats normally.
The US-led team of researchers behind the new device said they were inspired to help the one percent of babies born with congenital heart defects who need temporary pacemakers in the weeks following surgery. Pacemakers can also help adults recover from heart surgery to restore a normal heartbeat.
Currently, temporary pacemakers require surgery to sew electrodes into the heart muscle, which are connected to wires that run through the patient’s chest. When the pacemaker is no longer needed, doctors or nurses remove the wires, which can sometimes cause damage. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died of internal bleeding in 2012 after having his temporary pacemaker removed.
But the newly developed pacemaker is wireless and, at just one millimeter thick and 3.5 millimeters long, can fit on the tip of a syringe. It is designed to dissolve in the body when it is no longer needed. This saves patients from invasive surgery.
A significant breakthrough
The device, described in a study published in the journal Nature, is attached to a soft patch worn on the patient’s chest. When the patch detects an irregular heartbeat, it automatically flashes a light that tells the pacemaker which heartbeat to stimulate. The pacemaker is called a galvanic cell. The galvanic cell converts chemical energy in body fluids into electrical impulses that stimulate the heart.
The pacemaker has worked effectively in tests on rats, pigs, dogs and human heart tissue in the lab, according to the study. Senior study author John Rogers of Northwestern University in the United States said the pacemaker could be tested on humans in two to three years. He said his lab has launched a start-up to achieve this goal.
“In the future, the underlying technology could create unique and powerful strategies to address societal challenges in human health,” Rogers said. Bozhi Tian of the University of Chicago’s lab has also developed light-activated pacemakers, but he was not involved in the latest research. He called it a “significant leap forward.”
“This new pacemaker is a transformative advance in medical technology,” he said. “It is a paradigm shift in temporal momentum and bioelectronic medicine, opening up possibilities beyond cardiology, including nerve regeneration, wound healing, and integrated smart implants.” According to the World Health Organization, heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.
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