In the day and age in which we are living, we think about the gadgets around us when we speak about unprecedented technological growth. But the field of health and medicine has also been silently taking giant strides in terms of technology, pushing barriers, increasing our lifespans, and allowing us along with our near and dear ones to live a little longer.
A real medical miracle
The term “medical miracle” is bandied about without much thought these days, especially with the surge in content of different forms that we consume these days. Medical events that are totally unanticipated and inexplicable even for medical practitioners are referred to as medical miracles. These are usually outside the range of medical precedents and even the laws of nature on occasions, as assessed by science. Swedish engineer Arne Larsson’s case was truly a medical miracle.
Born in 1915, Larsson made his living as an engineer working on electrical systems. A viral infection in 1958 meant that the normal electrical circuit that linked his heart’s chambers went for a toss and his heart could no longer contract synchronously. He experienced Stokes-Adams attacks, wherein the shift in mechanism of the heartbeat caused an abrupt loss of consciousness following a sudden but pronounced decrease in cardiac output. With his heartbeat slowing down to as low as 28 times a minute, his condition could have potentially produced fatal fainting spells.
Arne Larsson was the first recipient of an implantable pacemaker. | Photo Credit: Professor Marko Turina University Hospital Zurich Wikimedia Commons
There were occasions when Larsson’s wife, along with aides at the hospital, resuscitated him by thumping on his chest 20-30 times a day. The doctors at the Karolinska University Hospital were clueless as to which of these attacks might be his last.
What is a pacemaker?
Larsson was in need of a pacemaker – a medical device that could support the electrical system in the heart. Artificial cardiac pacemakers – nowadays always implanted – are capable of sending out electrical pulses that help the heart beat at a normal rate and rhythm.
The only pacemakers of the time, however, were large and stationary external machines that were meant for temporary use. While the basic principle of a pacemaker had been known for decades and external machines that delivered electrical impulses to stimulate heartbeat were around, those that could be implanted were still work in progress.
Senning, Elmqvist make it work
Ake Senning, a heart surgeon at Larsson’s hospital, and Rune Elmqvist, an engineer at an electronics company, were among those who were working on a pacemaker. They were trying to create battery-powered implantable pacemakers using silicon transistors, which were new devices back then.
While their experimental model was far from a finished product, Larsson’s unique circumstances meant that his wife wanted to give it a shot, whatever the chances. Senning and Elmqvist developed a pacemaker employing two transistors and the device was roughly the size of a puck used in ice hockey.
On October 8, 1958, Senning implanted the device in a subcutaneous pouch and it sent the desired electrical impulses to the cardiac muscle. While the operation was a success, the pacemaker failed eight hours later.
Keeps getting newer ones
Senning then implanted the only backup available at their disposal – a pacemaker with batteries that had to be recharged after every few hours of use. This one worked on and off and Larsson lived on.
Larsson, in fact, underwent more than 20 such surgeries to replace pacemakers, each one failing for a different reason. While battery life is a limiting factor for pacemakers, the newer ones that Larsson received after each operation were mostly better in more ways than one. These devices allowed Larsson to lead a normal life, as he went around the world to supervise the repair of electrical systems on ships, and also advocated the use of pacemakers, pushing for more funding in the field.
Pacemakers enabled Larsson to live longer, as he outlived both Elmqvist, who died in 1996, and Senning, who died in 2000. He lived as many years with pacemakers as he had without it, and he died aged 86 near Stockholm in December 2001. Millions of people around the world across different age groups now use pacemakers, enabling them to maintain an adequate heart rate.
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