Little medical device makes big difference for Deloraine man.

DELORAINE man Brian Bartlett was up and about playing his beloved bowls just 10 days after becoming the first Tasmanian to have a life changing heart operation.

Brian Bartlett, of Deloraine, is the first Tasmanian to receive the world’s smallest pacemaker, the Medtronic Micra Transcatheter Pacing System. Picture: SUPPLIED.

DELORAINE man Brian Bartlett was up and about playing his beloved bowls just 10 days after becoming the first Tasmanian to have a life changing heart operation.

Mr Bartlett, 70, recently became the first in the state to receive the world’s smallest pacemaker — the Medtronic Micra Transcatheter Pacing System — which is the size of a large vitamin and weighs less than a coin.

The pacemaker is attached to the right side of the heart and does not require any leads, greatly reducing the risk of infection.

Tasmanian cardiac electrophysiologist Stewart Healy performed the procedure in Melbourne last month and was in Launceston this week to check up on Mr Bartlett’s progress at the Charles Clinic Heart Care.

For about a month before the operation, Mr Bartlett had been experiencing random dizzy spells every day.

“I went on a bowls trip to NSW and on the second day I was on a ferry just talking to someone and I thought ‘this one’s a bit stronger’ and I was out to it after that — I hit the deck,” he said. “When I came around I thought it better see someone about it.”

Mr Bartlett was suffering from bradycardia, a slow or irregular heart rhythm, with his heart rate dropping as low as 35 beats a minute at times.

The new pacemaker will prevent his heart rate dropping below 60 beats per minute and represents the way forward in medical technology, Dr Healy said.

“We are seeing the miniaturisation of all and this is the tip of the iceberg as to how we put things into the heart,” he said.

“Instead of going up under your clavicle or shoulder joint, it actually goes up through your groin and gets put into your heart via a very long sheath which has a delivery system in it and the device is lodged into the bottom right hand side of the heart.

“From there it’s released and we test it’s not going to fall out and once it’s released, the device paces the heart just like a normal pacemaker would.”

Originally published as Little medical device makes big difference for Deloraine man.