Medtronic developing new mini pacemaker

[Minnesota Public Radio, November 01, 2010] Medtronic believes it can help sales grow by making some long-standing products shrink, including a new mini pacemaker about the size and shape of large vitamin capsule.

The device could could be implanted through a vein in a patient's leg -- and go right inside the heart.

Cardiologist Robert Hauser, MD, with the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, says "there's always been a great deal of interest in eliminating the wire that goes into the heart from the pacemaker that's under the skin."

The device is several years from human use. Read or listen to the story at mpr.org.