BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Tristate heart surgeon has installed the first of what he calls the next revolution in cardiac pacemakers -- a smaller device featuring new technology that allows it to last twice as long as standard models. The device is called the Pacesetter Regency SC+, made by St. Jude Medical Inc. of St. Paul, Minn.
Already used in Britain, the device was approved in May for use in the United States.
On Thursday, Charlene Burge, a 77-year-old resident of a nursing home in Hillsboro, was the first in the Tristate to get one since it was approved, according to her surgeon, Dr. Edward J. Schloss, a member of the Ohio Heart Health Center.
"There aren't that many more revolutions left in pacemakers. But I think this one is a real step forward," Dr. Schloss said.
Pacemakers are electric devices that maintain a steady beat for people with heart disease.
Nationwide, surgeons install 136,000 pacemakers a year, more than 80 percent in people over 65, the American Heart Association says.
Pacemakers come in a variety of types and sizes, including some that also function as defibrillators.
Mrs. Burge's device is an uncommonly used type, but Dr. Schloss said many more Tristate cardiac patients will be receiving similar devices as the manufacturer introduces an entire line based on the technology.
The big advance in St. Jude Medical's pacemaker is an "auto capture pacing system" that allows the device to monitor every pulse it emits to determine whether it was strong enough to trigger a heartbeat.
This means the pacemaker can adjust its power level on a beat-by-beat basis, which allows it to use much less energy than any other pacemaker, Dr. Schloss said.
With other pacemakers, doctors can program their strength, but they typically order the devices to work twice as hard as necessary to maintain a safety margin for unpredictable fluctuations in the patient's own heartbeating power.
This device automatically responds to those variations, Dr. Schloss said.
"This new pacemaker is about 15 percent smaller than other pacemakers, but instead of lasting eight years, it can last 15 or 16 years," Dr. Schloss said.
