Earlier this month, Abbott announced that the first dual-chamber, leadless pacemaker was implanted for the first time in a human patient. Whereas traditional pacemakers are implanted in the chest, leadless ones are placed directly into the heart through a minimally invasive catheter-based procedure that eliminates the need for cardiac leads. This reduces lead-related complications and creates a less restrictive recovery period.

Additionally, the new leadless pacemaker is a double-chamber one, whereas traditional leadless options have been limited to single-chamber devices, due to it being difficult to synchronize two leadless pacemakers. Abbott’s uses i2i technology for beat-by-beat communication between the two, with one in the right ventricle and one in the right atrium. This regulates heart rate synchronously between chambers and allows for dual-chamber leadless pacing.


The prior study at the University of Auckland was funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. The findings were published in Basic Research in Cardiology.

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