A team of investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California have developed an implantable micropacemaker designed for use in a fetus. The micropacemaker, designated a Humanitarian Use Device by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), will address the condition of congenital heart block.
With each beat of a healthy heart, an electrical signal moves from the upper to the lower chambers of the heart. As this signal moves, the heart contracts and pumps blood.
"We now have a pacemaker that can be implanted in utero, potentially without harm to the fetus or the mom,” said Ramen H. Chmait, MD, Director of the CHLA-USC Institute for Maternal-Fetal Health. “This novel device provides a real opportunity to prevent miscarriage and premature birth in babies affected with these abnormalities.”
Unlike the size of the adult device, which requires a small part to be implanted in the fetus and the rest to remain externalized, the new micropacemaker resides entirely within the fetus. Investigators anticipate the first human use of the device in the near future.
