Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center is proud to now offer Micra™ AV, the world’s smallest pacemaker with atrioventricular (AV) synchrony!
This past spring, Harpreet Grewal, MD, performed the first Micra™ AV implant procedure at this facility. Vivak Master, MD, has joined Dr. Grewel as a cardiac electrophysiologist to perform this procedure as well.
“We can now offer AV block patients an option that is one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker,” Dr. Grewal shares. “That’s comparable in size to a large vitamin.”
Micra™ AV is indicated for the treatment of patients with AV block, which is a type of heart block when the electrical signals between the chambers of the heart are impaired.
Pacemakers, the most common way to treat AV block, help restore the heart’s normal rhythm and relieve symptoms by coordinating the electrical activity. When this process – known as AV synchrony – is achieved, patients experience improved quality of life, increased blood flow from the left ventricle and a decreased likelihood of pacemaker syndrome.
Historically, patients with AV block have been treated with traditional dual-chamber pacemakers which are implanted in the upper chest, under the skin below the collar bone and connected to the heart using thin wires called leads.
Micra™ AV is inserted through a catheter and implanted directly into the heart with small tines. Because Micra™ AV does not require leads or a surgical pocket under the skin, these risks of complications are eliminated as are any visible signs of the device.
“…we implant the device through a minimally invasive approach,” Dr. Grewal explains. “That’s a great benefit to our patients.”
Learn about the heart and vascular care we offer at Bon Secours.
