Implantable pacemaker
Marcapasos implantable
- Date
- 1958 · confidence high
- Place
- Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Credited to
- Rune Elmqvist (engineer) and Åke Senning (surgeon), 8 October 1958; Wilson Greatbatch (United States, 1960)
- People
- 👤 Åke Senning1915–2000👤 Rune Elmqvist1906–1996👤 Wilson Greatbatch1919–2011
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A transistorised electronic device implanted under the skin that stimulates the heart with electrical pulses. It was the first electronic implant, and millions of people carry one today.
What it led to
- Electronic implants (the implantable defibrillator, the cochlear implant, neurostimulators)
- The medical device industry (Medtronic)
- Long-life lithium batteries for implants