Montreal patients first to receive state-of-the-art pacemaker

Five patients from the Montreal Heart Institute have become the first in Canada to receive a state-of-the-art pacemaker.

Unlike previous wireless pacemakers that only stimulate the lower part of the heart, the new Micra AV stimulates both the upper and the lower part of the organ.

“It was a bit as if we had an orchestra that did not listen to the conductor. It allowed us to survive, but it was not the best music to our ears,” said Dr. Blandine Mondésert, who performed the surgeries.

The Micra AV synchronizes the upper and lower parts of the heart, “which is important for the majority of patients,” added Mondésert.

Micra AV was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January, but the COVID-19 pandemic then slowed the approval process in Canada.

Mondésert was able to implant the new pacemaker at the beginning of November after Health Canada approved the procedure.

All five patients are doing very well, including a woman Mondésert describes as being “renewed” since being freed from the pain of her previous pacemaker.

As a Canadian pioneer of this surgery, Mondésert has already started to train colleagues elsewhere in Quebec and Canada.