The Oregon Heart Center and Cascade Cardiology now offer Micra®, the world’s smallest pacemaker through Salem Health’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
Medtronic’s Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System — the size of a large vitamin capsule — was approved by the FDA last year. Salem Health’s expanded, state-of-the-art cath lab made this advancement possible locally. The lab performs the full range of cardiac, interventional radiology, vascular and electrophysiology procedures, and has expanded capacity to meet growing cardiology needs in the Mid-Willamette Valley.
The Micra is one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker and is self-contained, which means it has no wire leads that might eventually bend and break, a danger with traditional pacemakers.
The first procedure was on Oct. 10 and took about 25 minutes. Read the news release about 80-year-old Ruth Bissett, our first Micra patient, and her cardiologist Matthew Fedor, MD.
MICRA facts
The Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System provides patients with the most advanced pacing technology at one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker. Learn more and watch the simulation.
Unlike traditional pacemakers, the device doesn’t require cardiac wires or a surgical “pocket” under the skin to deliver a pacing therapy. It’s small enough to be delivered through a catheter and implanted directly into the heart with small tines, providing a safe alternative to conventional pacemakers without the complications associated with leads, all while being cosmetically invisible. It automatically adjusts pacing therapy based on a patient’s activity levels.
The Micra TPS is designed to be left in the body, but can be retrieved. If patients need more than one device, the Micra can be permanently turned off so it can remain in the body and a new device can be implanted without risk of electrical interaction.
The Micra is the first and only transcatheter pacing system to be approved for both 1.5 and 3 Tesla (T) full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and is designed to allow patients to be followed by their physicians and send data remotely via the Medtronic CareLink® Network.