Battery-free pacemaker can be implanted into heart

The wireless, battery-free pacemaker is being introduced this week by researchers from Rice University, Texas and colleagues at the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at IEEE’s International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Honolulu.

Designed by the Rice lab of electrical and computer engineering professor Aydin Babakhani, the pacemaker is said to harvest energy wirelessly from radio frequency radiation transmitted by an external battery pack. In the prototype presented at IMS, the wireless power transmitter can be up to few centimetres away.

Pacemakers use electrical signals to prompt the heart to keep a steady beat, but they’ve traditionally not been implanted directly into a patient’s heart. Instead, they’re located away from the heart, where surgeons can periodically replace their onboard batteries with minor surgery.

The electrical signals are transmitted to the heart via wires called leads, which are linked with problems associated with this arrangement, including bleeding and infection. Babakhani said Rice’s prototype wireless pacemaker reduces these risks by doing away with leads.