Fully implantable and bioresorbable cardiac pacemakers without leads or batteries

Yeon Sik Choi; Rose T Yin; Anna Pfenniger; Jahyun Koo; Raudel Avila; K Benjamin Lee; Sheena W Chen; Geumbee Lee; Gang Li; Yun Qiao; Alejandro Murillo-Berlioz; Alexi Kiss; Shuling Han; Seung Min Lee; Chenhang Li; Zhaoqian Xie; Yu-Yu Chen; Amy Burrell; Beth Geist; Hyoyoung Jeong; Joohee Kim; Hong-Joon Yoon; Anthony Banks; Seung-Kyun Kang; Zheng Jenny Zhang; Chad R Haney; Alan Varteres Sahakian; David Johnson; Tatiana Efimova; Yonggang Huang; Gregory D Trachiotis; Bradley P Knight; Rishi K Arora; Igor R Efimov; John A Rogers

doi:10.1038/s41587-021-00948-x

Fully implantable and bioresorbable cardiac pacemakers without leads or batteries

Nat Biotechnol. 2021 Oct;39(10):1228-1238. doi: 10.1038/s41587-021-00948-x. Epub 2021 Jun 28.

Authors

Yeon Sik Choi^#^{1

2

3}, Rose T Yin^#⁴, Anna Pfenniger^#⁵, Jahyun Koo^#^{1

2}, Raudel Avila⁶, K Benjamin Lee⁷, Sheena W Chen⁷, Geumbee Lee^{1

2

3}, Gang Li⁸, Yun Qiao⁴, Alejandro Murillo-Berlioz⁹, Alexi Kiss^{10

11}, Shuling Han^{12

13}, Seung Min Lee¹, Chenhang Li⁶, Zhaoqian Xie¹⁴, Yu-Yu Chen¹⁵, Amy Burrell⁵, Beth Geist⁵, Hyoyoung Jeong^{1

2}, Joohee Kim^{1

2}, Hong-Joon Yoon^{1

2

3

16}, Anthony Banks^{1

2}, Seung-Kyun Kang^{17

18}, Zheng Jenny Zhang^{12

13}, Chad R Haney^{19

20}, Alan Varteres Sahakian^{19

21}, David Johnson⁵, Tatiana Efimova^{10

11}, Yonggang Huang^{1

3

6

22}, Gregory D Trachiotis⁹, Bradley P Knight⁵, Rishi K Arora²³, Igor R Efimov²⁴, John A Rogers^{25

26

27

28

29

30}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
² Querrey Simpson Institute for Biotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
⁵ Feinberg School of Medicine, Cardiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
⁷ Department of Surgery, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
⁸ Center for Cardiovascular Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁹ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
¹¹ The George Washington Cancer Center, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
¹² Comprehensive Transplant Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹³ Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹⁴ State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, International Research Center for Computational Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.
¹⁵ Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
¹⁶ School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
¹⁸ Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
²⁰ Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
²¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
²² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
²³ Feinberg School of Medicine, Cardiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. r-arora@northwestern.edu.
²⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. efimov@gwu.edu.
²⁵ Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²⁶ Querrey Simpson Institute for Biotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
²⁹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.
³⁰ Department of Neurological Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. jrogers@northwestern.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Temporary cardiac pacemakers used in periods of need during surgical recovery involve percutaneous leads and externalized hardware that carry risks of infection, constrain patient mobility and may damage the heart during lead removal. Here we report a leadless, battery-free, fully implantable cardiac pacemaker for postoperative control of cardiac rate and rhythm that undergoes complete dissolution and clearance by natural biological processes after a defined operating timeframe. We show that these devices provide effective pacing of hearts of various sizes in mouse, rat, rabbit, canine and human cardiac models, with tailored geometries and operation timescales, powered by wireless energy transfer. This approach overcomes key disadvantages of traditional temporary pacing devices and may serve as the basis for the next generation of postoperative temporary pacing technology.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Absorbable Implants*
Animals
Atrioventricular Block / therapy
Disease Models, Animal
Dogs
Equipment Design
Humans
Mice
Pacemaker, Artificial*
Rabbits
Rats
Wireless Technology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding