Miniaturization Could Lead to Injectable Pacemaker

Here's a story that just came across my desk: It's about a miniature, injectable pacemaker that could hit the market in five years.

As reported in MIT's Technology Review, medical device giant Medtronic (Minneapolis) is developing a miniature pacemaker based on microelectronics and chip manufacturing that will be smaller than a Tic Tac. The interesting thing about the new device is the enabling technologies that are used to manufacture it: a circuit board, an oscillator for generating current, a capacitor for storing and dispensing an electric charge, memory, and a wireless telemetry system for transferring data.

Employing chip manufacturing technology, the company assembles these components onto a wafer. According to Stephen Oesterle, Medtronic's senior vice president for medicine and technology, between 60 and 70 pacemakers can be fabricated on a 6-in. wafer. The company fabricates the chips at its wafer fabrication facility in Arizona. However, because the technology lacks a way to power the chips, the company is working with startups that manufacture thin-film batteries and other power sources.

Medtronic's current-generation pacemaker relies on intercardiac leads to supply electricity to the heart. But the use of these leads is problematic for several reasons. First, it increases the device's power requirements. Second, when leads fail, new ones must be inserted, which might entail the surgical removal of the old ones. In contrast, because the new technology is so small, doctors will be able to insert it exactly where power is required, eliminating the need for leads.

The company believes that it will be possible to implant the tiny device by inserting a thin plastic tube into an artery or vein and then threading the tube all the way to the heart. Used in cardiac catheterization, this method is less invasive than surgical implantation, and more physicians are capable of performing it.

Readers, weigh in. What technological hurdles and enabling technologies do you think must be developed for this and other types of medical devices undergoing the miniaturization revolution? --Bob Michaels