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Research looks for alternative to pacemakers20 June 2006 A project is underway to create a substitute to the mechanical pacemaker, offering a new way to tackle irregular heart rhythms. Researchers aim to make use of patients' own cells to provide a longer-lasting biological pacemaker. Specialists at Children's Hospital, Boston are looking for better treatment for children with complete heart block, who are at risk from rhythm disturbances and heart failure. Complete heart block is present in about one in 22,000 births and pacemakers are usually recommended as the solution. However, mechanical pacemakers have to be changed at least every five years in children, which means frequent surgery. After successful tests in laboratory trials, the Boston research, which is published in the American Journal of Pathology, has raised the prospect of a different future for children born with heart problems. The specialists suggest that a child with heart block would receive a conventional pacemaker, but also get an implant of cell tissue that would grow along with the child. The mechanical pacemaker would therefore act only as a back-up, to start functioning if and when the biological implant failed. More information
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