Cardiac patient Norman Johnson loves the easy pace of the quiet outdoors, but he never thought he'd be a medical pioneer.
His traditional pacemaker that regulated his heart rhythm was giving him serious complications impacting his quality of life.
His Cleveland Clinic doctors offered him a new option. He went from a traditional pacemaker about half the size of a deck of playing cards to a new model almost as small as a calcium pill.
"With the available technology now it's only for the right bottom chamber the right ventricle and for a good portion of patients that's all that they need," says Dr. Daniel Cantillon, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic.
Instead of surgery, the tiny device was threaded up through his femoral artery into his right ventricle where it was embedded into the heart muscle. No lump in his chest, no wires into his heart.
The device stays put permanently and the battery can last a decade. It senses movement and speeds up or slows down as needed.
For Norm, it was a life changer and got him back outdoors to do what he loves most.
Since the device is installed inside the heart, the procedure is less invasive with fewer complications than older pacemakers, which used wire leads that were prone to infection.
