The first pacemakers were a bulky piece of technology. With large batteries and multiple leads that monitor the heart’s electrical activity, they were quite the sight for sore eyes. Although effective, they had their disadvantages such as extreme patient discomfort. Fast forward to today, and we’ve stepped into a new era where technology has enabled us to realize leadless pacemakers. It might seem like a small design tweak but it’s a huge leap in innovation and has gone a long to help change healthcare as we know it. In this article, we shall take a look at just how these tiny devices are revolutionizing the healthcare landscape in many big ways.
First things first: How leadless pacemakers work
The traditionally pacemaker is implanted against the heart wall, and your physician may place it there by way of minor surgery and a small catheter that goes up your leg. Since it lacks leads and generally embraces a more concise design, your typical pacemaker tends to be about 90% smaller compared to a transvenous pacemaker.
Powered by a small battery, the leadless pacemaker is able to monitor the heart’s electrical activity for several years, with the exact duration depending on the model in question, among other factors. But at the very least, your leadless pacemaker should be able to give ten years of service or thereabouts.
Taking the world by storm and making significant change
Today, over 3 million Americans live with pacemakers, according to research by Yale Medicine. They are becoming part and parcel of modern healthcare. In this section, we’ll get into the heart of our article as we look at some of the many ways that leadless pacemakers are changing the healthcare landscape for the better.
- Making pacemakers more affordable
Traditional pacemakers were very complex to implant and as such, they required very complex surgical procedures which are by no means cheap. By inflating the cost of acquisition, this locked out some patients from using the technology.
While the cost of pacemakers remains significant today, requiring anywhere between $20,000 and $100,00 depending on various factors, there are less complex medical procedures involved and this can greatly offset the cost. Additionally, they may also achieve more affordability by reducing the length of hospital stays.
It’s also important to note that in the event that a pacemaker becomes medically necessary, your insurance provider may cover part of or the entirety of the cost of acquiring a leadless pacemaker.
- More cosmetic solution
With traditional pacemakers, your physician needs to place the leads under the skin. To do this, they’ll need to cut larger chunks of skin to create a small pocket through which they can guide wires and the pacemaker into position. The result can be nasty scars over the chest area.
But that’s not the case with a leadless pacemaker. Your physician simply creates a very small incision in your upper thigh area and then leverages a catheter to guide the device into position. It may then be reinforced against the heart wall using flexible tines, although the exact technology at play will vary from one model and provider to the next.
- Lower risk of infections
It’s also possible to develop a complication after the pacemaker surgery, with these symptoms manifesting anywhere between a few days to 12 months after.
So what are the early signs of pacemaker infection? Well, some of them include:
- Pain at the implant site
- Nausea
- Inflammation
- Redness
- Chills
- Fever
While the risks of infection are still there with a leadless pacemaker, the odds are greatly reduced. That’s largely because doctors don’t need to make large skin incisions, so there’s a lower chance of excessive bleeding and infections.
- Faster recovery from surgery
What’s more, leadless pacemakers can help you ensure that you spend minimal time at the hospital. That’s because implanting the device is a minimally invasive procedure so you may not even spend a night in admission, although it is protocol for your physician to keep you for observation for a few hours.
In turn, this can play a part in easing the burden for healthcare facilities that may be struggling with limited hospital infrastructure such as bed, equipment, and personnel shortages.
- Care that goes the distance
On top of that, today’s pacemakers can give patients service for well over a decade or more. They leverage advanced lithium-ion battery technology that greatly minimizes self-discharge rates, which in turn helps the device to retain power for a long period. This ensures extended use for the patient and a longer monitoring period, which is highly beneficial for both parties.
Overall, this long-lasting battery life can help to further decrease the need for frequent device replacement which can mean the following benefits:
- Lower healthcare costs
- Less risk of infection
- Lower chance of complications
Besides being built for longevity, leadless pacemakers’ batteries are also built for performance and help to provide round-the-clock cardiac monitoring in real time. This way, care providers can get ahead of adverse cardiac events to ensure fewer cases of hospital readmissions.
- Privacy for the patient
Traditional pacemakers were very easy to notice even from underneath garments due to bulging lead wires, and this created a sort of stigma for patients who relied upon them. It also made them very aware of their condition, both of which were not good for their mental well-being.
In steps the leadless pacemaker, which has changed that by providing a solution that’s implanted directly inside your heart. As a result, it’s not easily discernable even when you take your shirt off, and this helps to boost privacy and confidentiality for a patient’s treatment.
Small but very mighty!
The leadless pacemaker is roughly the same size as a typical vitamin capsule, but it’s quite clear that they are making a big difference. From improving health outcomes for patients by lowering the risk of infection to making pacemakers a more private and cosmetically appealing solution for patients, this revolutionary piece of technology brings a lot to the table. If you’d like to get world-class pacemaker monitoring services for your facility, be sure to turn to Techindia for assistance. Besides monitoring, they can also provide support with regard to patient education and billing so be sure to check them out.
