The world’s smallest pacemaker Transplanted for the first time in Israel at the Shamir En Medical Center

In recent days, the first implantation of the world’s smallest and most innovative pacemaker was performed at the Institute of Arrhythmias at the Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh) by Dr. Vladimir Vasilenko, a senior cardiologist with extensive experience in implanting advanced pacemakers. “The advantage of this new generation of tiny pacemakers is in the better performance and lower risks compared to traditional pacemakers,” he explained.

“You no longer need to put anything under the skin that sticks out and you can see it or thread electrodes into the veins, this solution minimizes the entire ability to pace patients from a very cumbersome system to a very small, elegant and simpler system that does not circulate in the blood vessels and this is the great advantage,” explains Prof. Elad Anter, head of the Arrhythmia Institute at the Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh).

According to Prof. Anter, among the population in Israel about five percent need a pacemaker after the age of 65. “As you get older, the electrical conduction system in the heart weakens and as a result the heart rate decreases. We depend on the heart rate to perform various activities and if it does not increase accordingly then less blood reaches vital organs And as a result, a feeling of fatigue and inability to perform relatively simple actions may arise, which a pacemaker helps to avoid this situation,” he says.