New pacemaker helps heart patients feel ‘like Iron Man’ may soon be available to nearly 200,000

Nearly 200,000 heart failure patients may soon have access to a new type of pacemaker that improves quality of life.

In a trial of the implant, patients who were breathless and exhausted from their weakened hearts were able to enjoy normal activities, such as walking, without becoming exhausted.

One 36-year-old even told the MoS that he felt “like Iron Man” after getting the new pacemaker fitted — a radically improved version of the device first invented in the 1950s that sends out an electrical signal to regulate an irregular heartbeat.

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can no longer pump properly because the muscle is stiff or weakened. Although it can occur at any age, it is most common in older people, with around a million people in the UK currently living with it.

Triggers for heart failure include heart attacks — when blood flow to the heart is suddenly blocked — high blood pressure, viral infections, and genetic errors.

Symptoms, including debilitating fatigue and shortness of breath, can suddenly worsen — it causes about 86,000 emergency hospitalizations each year, while about half of those diagnosed with heart failure die within five years.

The condition is treated with lifestyle changes, medication, and often a pacemaker. These are small electrical devices consisting of a pulse generator — about the size of a matchbox, containing a battery and circuitry — and one or more wires, known as pacing leads, that are attached to the heart.

In the new pacemaker, two or three wires are connected directly to the specialized heart cells that conduct electrical signals between the top and bottom of the heart. The technique is known as ‘His beam’ or conduction system pacing.

This has been shown to help the fifth of heart failure patients – around 200,000 people in the UK – with a serious complication known as PR prolongation, in which there is a delay in the time it takes for natural electrical signals to reach the heart. tell to pull together. travel from the top of the heart to the bottom. The delay means not enough blood is being pumped around the body, so the heart failure symptoms these patients suffer from are even worse and they are at greater risk of death. Until the His bundle technique, doctors couldn’t fix this problem.

In the trial, called HOPE-HF and supported by the British Heart Foundation, 167 people were given the new pacemaker. More than two-thirds saw improvements in their symptoms and quality of life.

Dr. Zachary Whinnett, a consultant cardiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust who led the study, said: ‘Patients told us they felt much better and were able to return to more of their normal daily activities – going to the shops, children and work take care of their worries – thanks to the pacemaker.’

The surgery to implant the device is performed under local anesthesia and sedation.

The pulse generator is inserted under the skin, below the collarbone, and the wires are passed through the blood vessels to the heart. Patients are usually allowed to go home the same day.

Andrew Griffin, 36, underwent the procedure in February last year after he began experiencing heart problems in 2019.

“I suddenly had what I thought were heart palpitations — terrible pressure on my chest and throat — while riding my bike,” he said.

Andrew said he felt “like Iron Man” after getting the new pacemaker fitted – a radically improved version of the device that sends out an electrical signal to regulate an irregular heartbeat

Andrew from London visited his GP who referred him for tests but they couldn’t find anything wrong.

He added, “Over the course of the next two years, the episodes became more frequent. Eventually, just getting up from a sitting position would activate it.”

At that point, further tests showed that Andrew was suffering from heart failure and he was referred to Dr. Whinnett to have the new pacemaker fitted.

Four weeks later he came back for a check-up.

He said, “During the appointment, they checked on me and I suddenly felt terrible. The nurse said, “Don’t worry, we just turned off the pacemaker!”

“It was like the wind had been taken out of my sails and I realized how much of a difference it had made. Now I’m doing everything I want to do again. This pacemaker has changed my life.

“You don’t think of people my age with heart failure or pacemakers. But I think of it as a bionic implant – I’m like Iron Man.’