Cleveland Clinic implants first wireless pacemaker defibrillator system

Cleveland Clinic has implanted the first leadless pacemaker defibrillator system in the world.

Dr. Daniel Cantillon is a research director at the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute and the principal investigator for the study on the new device. He says this technology could impact 6 million people in the United States alone.

“This study is the first to evaluate an entirely wireless, or leadless, system so that there are no wires being threaded through the patient’s blood vessels in order to provide them their pacemaker and defibrillator,” Cantillon said.

He says prior studies show that up to one in six patients experience a problem with wires in their blood vessels, such as blood clots or broken wires.

Cantillon says the combination of the pacemaker and the defibrillator is also able to disrupt lethal arrhythmias without a painful and traumatizing defibrillator shock.

He expects the results from the trial, which will involve up to 300 patients. to be available within the next two years.

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