The
pacemaker is a device used to help people with slow heartbeats to beat
faster.It’s perception was seen
as early as the late 1800’s when it was found that electrical impulses
caused the heart to beat.The inventor
of the first pacemaker is still undetermined.Many
think it was Dr. Albert Hyman, while others insist it was an Australian
duo by the names of Mark Lidwell and Major Edgar Booth.It
wasn’t until 1950 that the first practical pacemaker was developed.It
wasn’t internally planted as modern pacemakers are, the device was actually
ac powered and had a small electric lead that was implanted in the heart.This
design, though fully functional, had its drawbacks due to immobility of
the patient and the constant power blackouts that occurred.But
in 1957 a fully functional wearable pacemaker was developed by Dr. Rune
Elqvist that gave patients the freedom of mobility and ease at mind because
of the implementation of a battery.The
first pacemaker that was totally implanted into the body was invented in
1960.Also in the 1960’s it was found
that the electrical leads could be connected to the heart through veins,
which eliminated the need to open the chest cavity and attach the lead
to the heart wall.In 1975 the introduction
of the lithium-iodide battery prolonged the battery life of a pacemaker
from 10-12 months to almost 10+ years.Currently,
pacemakers have become so advance that they are like mini-computers.They
can keep data of the patients heart beat patterns, be controlled by radio
frequency, and even adjust the beat rate according to the person’s activity
level.In the future, scientists
and doctors hope to develop pacemakers with infinitely lasting battery
lives and even the ability to learn the patients lifestyle and adjust the
heart rate to what it thinks is best.
For more detailed information on the history of pacemakers, you can visit these links:
http://www.medtronic.com/brady/patient/pacemaker_history.html
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/bae/courses/bae465/1995_projects/scho/htmls/history1.html