World's first wireless pacemakers come out of Cambridge

Cambridge Consultants has helped create the first lead (read leed, not led) free pacemaker, potentially removing one of the most risky elements of implanting the devices in patients with chronic heart failure.

Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) normally has two pacemakers fitted in the heart, one each in the left and right ventricles of the heart for patients with advanced heart failure and are synchronised by linking the two with a lead that needs to be carefully fed through a complex route.

The first generation of the Wireless Cardiac Stimulation (WiCS) system developed by Cambridge Consultants in collaboration with US startup, EBR Systems, uses a small electrode in the left side of the heart which senses the electrical pacing pulse of a conventional pacemaker in the right ventricle.

This ultrasonic pulse is sensed by the electrode in the left ventricle which converts the same sonic energy into electrical energy, syncing the left ventricle with the right.

This alternative procedure not only reduces the risk associtated with the threading process, it cuts down the risk of infection and by pacing inside the left ventricle it also better mimics the natural activation and mechanical contraction pattern of the heart.

The company adds that by eliminating the lead in the left side of the heart, WiCS brings new hope to over 2.2 million advanced heart failure patients worldwide who can benefit from CRT therapy. It also provides a life-saving option for those patients who do not benefit from CRT therapy, either because of the complexity of the procedure, or the limitations of the current technology.

Cambridge Consultants says WiCS is the first leadless system to be successfully implanted in early human clinical trials at leading centres in Europe and the platform technology will eventually eliminate all pacing leads.

This ultrasonic pulse is sensed by the electrode in the left ventricle which converts the same sonic energy into electrical energy, syncing the left ventricle with the right.

This alternative procedure not only reduces the risk associtated with the threading process, it cuts down the risk of infection and by pacing inside the left ventricle it also better mimics the natural activation and mechanical contraction pattern of the heart.

The company adds that by eliminating the lead in the left side of the heart, WiCS brings new hope to over 2.2 million advanced heart failure patients worldwide who can benefit from CRT therapy. It also provides a life-saving option for those patients who do not benefit from CRT therapy, either because of the complexity of the procedure, or the limitations of the current technology.

Cambridge Consutltants says WiCS is the first leadless system to be successfully implanted in early human clinical trials at leading centres in Europe and the platform technology will eventually eliminate all pacing leads.

 

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