Cardiac pacemaker, for axilla implantation, London, England, 1963

Made:
1963 in London
Cardiac pacemaker, for axilla implantation

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Cardiac pacemaker, for axilla implantation
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cardiac pacemaker, for axilla implantation, unique design made at St. George's Hospital, London, 1963

Made at St George’s Hospital, London, this is a unique type of pacemaker made for implantation into the armpit, or axilla. Cardiac pacemakers were developed in the 1960s. They emit regulated electrical impulses. These stimulate the contraction of the heart muscles to provide sufficient rate of heartbeat. A pacemaker is often implanted into the chest of a person whose natural pacemaker is too slow or who has a condition where the electrical pulses are impaired. Pacemakers are now implanted in the chest. Axilla implantation fell out of use with the arrival of lithium batteries. These replaced the mercury-zinc battery used by this pacemaker. One million people worldwide are fitted with pacemakers.

Details

Category:
Therapeutics
Object Number:
1981-1517
Materials:
complete, plastic (unidentified), metal (unknown) and electronic components
Measurements:
overall: 15 mm x 57 mm x 19 mm, 0.02 kg
type:
cardiac pacemaker
credit:
St. Georges Hospital (Tooting)