VIDEO. A world first experienced by the cardiology department of the Rennes University Hospital, the installation of wireless microstimulators in the heart, allowed Alain Le Brun, 82, to survive!
15 years ago, Mr. Lebrun suffered a heart attack, which caused him significant heart failure (left ventricular dysfunction) which required the installation of a classic pacemaker with leads implanted inside the heart, in order to stimulate the 2 ventricles in a synchronized manner (cardiac resynchronization by a pace-maker).
Victim three weeks ago of an infection, it is necessary to remove the pacemaker and the probes implanted intraventricular to be able to eliminate the infection. As a result of this problem and the resulting occlusion of the veins, it is then impossible to implant a new conventional pacemaker with implantable probes, as the placement of new probes could cost him his life …
But without cardiac resynchronization, he is likely to die quite quickly. It is then a new unprecedented process that will be tested at the Rennes University Hospital, to save the octogenarian, relates an article published in West France.
A cardiac stimulator in each ventricle
This is the first time that this non-invasive operation (it avoids opening the thorax) has been performed in France. It was carried out by the team of Prof. Christophe Leclercq, head of the cardiology and vascular diseases department at the Rennes University Hospital and also vice-president of the European Society of Cardiology.
The technique ? Two micro-stimulators, shaped like a small harpoon, are placed, one in each ventricle of the heart, while a battery and the ultrasonic transmitter to which it is connected are placed between the ribs. These ultrasounds are then transformed into electrical energy by the microstimulators without probes, which will allow the 2 ventricles of the heart to be stimulated in a coordinated manner and for it to function normally.
An ultrasound-powered microstimulator
It is the American firm EBR who designed this process used in preview in Rennes (Video). An invisible device, which seems, for the moment, to work very well, as evidenced by Ouest France, the fortunate miracle worker: “Without Professor Leclercq and the cardiology team at Rennes University Hospital, I would probably no longer be of this world today “.
“Today, I live well and I manage to do my retirement activities. There is just the scar which still tickles me a little!”
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