Wireless revolution for Hong Kong heart patients, but at a price
Smaller pacemakers offer benefits but cost HK$95,000 and are not for everyone
A new type of wireless pacemaker is helping heart patients overcome the psychological and physical challenges associated with conventional models, but the benefits come at a price – HK$95,000 a time.
Dr Lau Chu-pak, specialist in cardiology, said pacemakers were given to people experiencing unusually slow heartbeats, under 60 beats a minute, or lulls in their heart beat.
Lau said the new, smaller pacemaker, first introduced in the city in 2015, was inserted by microsurgery via the patient’s thigh, eliminating the risk of infection from a wound and wire decay.
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Also, reducing the bulkiness of traditional pacemakers and the scarring created when inserting the devices removed the constant psychological reminder of the patient’s ailment.
Lau said the new model thus far boasted a 99.2 per cent success rate.
One patient, 74-year-old Ms Ng, was first fitted with a pacemaker in 1993. “The traditional pacemaker restricted my movements,” she said. “It made me feel heavy, like something was constantly weighing me down.”
After complications in 2014 and the potential need for major wire removal surgery, Ng chose to be fitted with the new pacemaker in February this year.
The new pacemaker doesn’t inhibit my activities