New defibrillator can be implanted without putting electrodes into heart

A new defibrillator that detects arrhythmias and shocks the heart back into normal rhythm - yet has no wires that touch the heart - has been successfully implanted in two patients in Hong Kong, the first in Asia.

A team from the University of Hong Kong's Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine performed the surgeries and both patients are making satisfactory progress in rehabilitation.

"The greatest advantage of the new defibrillator is that the implantation can be conducted without putting any electrodes into the heart through blood vessels, leaving the heart untouched," says Professor Tse Hung-fat, William MW Mong Professor in Cardiology and Chair Professor of department of medicine at the faculty.

"Hence, the risk of heart perforation, and/or infection of the heart after the surgery will drop to zero per cent."

Three incisions over the patient's left chest are made and the device, called a subcutaneous implantable cardiac defibrillator (S-ICD), is placed under the skin of the chest wall, over the ribs and sternum.

A wire runs under the skin along the left side of the breast bone. The surgery for implanting the device takes around an hour, compared to up to two hours for a conventional device, thereby reducing the time a patient is anaesthetised.

Apart from a highly significant reduction in the risk of developing severe complications, the S-ICD can also be placed solely by anatomical landmarks without using X-ray, hence reducing patients' radiation exposure.