A 2 months old baby, Mikey Oliveri, born with a rare congenital heart block, has become one of the youngest recipients of the world’s smallest pacemaker.
Mikey’s mother, Sarah, showed signs of heart block during pregnancy, a condition that disrupts the heart’s electrical signals, causing a dangerously slow heartbeat. After birth on December 5, Mikey’s heart rate dropped below 50 beats per minute, requiring immediate intervention.
Doctors at NYU Langone’s Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital implanted a tiny, leadless pacemaker, adapted from Medtronic’s Micra device. The device, no larger than a vitamin capsule, was modified to work as a pacemaker generator with pacing leads attached to his heart.
Since standard pacemakers require babies to weigh at least 3 kg, Mikey’s case was unique. He became one of only 52 babies in the U.S. to receive this specialized device. After a two-week hospital stay and antibiotic treatment, Mikey was discharged and is now thriving.
