Last month, a newborn in Belgium became the first in the country to receive a micro-pacemaker implant, the Saint-Luc University Clinics in Brussels reported on Thursday.
The procedure has only been performed around fifty times worldwide to date, noted the Cardiovascular Institute of the Clinics, where the paediatric cardiology team coordinated the operation.
The surgery took place just a few hours after the baby was born with an extremely slow heart rate.
The condition had been detected in utero. At 24 weeks of pregnancy, a transplacental treatment was administered to increase the heart rate, minimise the risk of heart failure or in-utero death, and allow the foetus to develop further under close medical supervision.
Given the high risk of premature birth and low birth weight, the medical team opted for the Medtronic micro-pacemaker, which had never been used in Belgium. This device is better suited to the infant’s small size and helps reduce hospitalisation time, avoiding other alternatives like intravenous medication or temporary pacemakers to speed up the heart before surgery.
The Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AFMPS) had to approve the use of the micro-pacemaker as it had never been implanted in Belgium before.
The baby was born five weeks premature. Teams from obstetrics, neonatology, paediatric intensive care, paediatric cardiology, anaesthesia, and surgery coordinated to perform the implant immediately after birth.
"The implantation is a real success: the child’s heart rate is now normal," the Clinics celebrated. The newborn spent a few days in paediatric intensive care and then in paediatric cardiology but was able to go home relatively quickly, just in time for the holiday season with his family.
Although a first in Belgium, this implantation remains rare globally, with only about fifty cases reported, mostly in the United States, the hospital added.
