Pacemaker technology has been put into effective use by Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The process enables a technician to remotely program the device during a procedure, without his physical presence in the operating room.
According to a report by The Columbus Dispatch, Toshimasa Okabe, MD, a cardiologist at OSU performed the procedure on April 3, implanting a pacemaker that was remotely programmed by a Medtronic technician on a patient. The technology since then has been used eight times.
Although the technology was approved by FDA in 2015, OSU used the procedure recently in a bid to limit people visiting the OR due to COVID-19. The pacemaker can be programmed wirelessly from anywhere in the U.S, with a Medtronic technician present during the surgery.
Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD, chair of the American College of Cardiology’s Electrophysiology Council, explained that this was the first example of how modern technology has been leveraged to find alternatives that fulfil patient needs in times of a global pandemic, he attributed the success to the advancement of technology, according to the report.
