Trailblazer... first person in the UK is fitted with life-saving defibrillator
A RETIRED policeman has become the first person in Britain to have an all-in-one pacemaker and defibrillator.
David Mills, 56, was given the wire-free implant designed for patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest from abnormal heart rhythm arrhythmia.
He said: “I feel very honoured. It has given me the confidence to carry on a normal life.
“I hope the results of this trial will help to provide important insights so that soon more people can benefit.”
David, from Southampton, had the procedure at his local University Hospital (UHS).
The defibrillator and new wire-free pacemaker called Empower should regulate heartbeat – but shock the heart into restarting if the worst was to happen.
Traditional pacemakers are inserted under the skin through the chest and connected to the heart via a lead threaded through the blood vessels.
But the procedure can lead to complications such as infections, obstruction of blood vessels and faults with the leads.
And previously patients fitted with a defibrillator alone could not have a pacer for a slow heartbeat because theirs ran too rapidly. The trial sees the new device put inside a small tube and fed up from the groin through a blood vessel and placed inside the wall of the heart. It takes just an hour using keyhole surgery.
Professor Paul Roberts, a consultant cardiologist at UHS, welcomed the innovation.
He said: “This first British implant of a leadless pacemaker combined with a defibrillator – that is able to deliver pacing to stop lifethreatening heart rhythms prior to the need for shock treatment – represents a major advance in treatment for patients.
“The therapy system will benefit a much larger patient population and enable the majority of lethal arrhythmias to be painlessly terminated without long-term risks associated with conventional pacemakers.” A UHS spokeswoman added: “The system uses pacing in the first instance via a new leadless pacemaker, which sends painless electrical signals to correct the heart of the abnormal rhythm.
Trial
“It will then use shock therapy from the defibrillator only if required as this can be more painful and traumatic for patients.”
Certain types of arrhythmia occur in people with severe heart conditions and can cause sudden cardiac death.
More than 30,000 cardiac arrests occur each year away from hospitals in the UK, with just one in 10 people surviving. David is one of 300 worldwide in the Empower trial.
The other patients are in Europe, the US and Canada.