50th anniversary of the world’s first implantable pacemaker...

ST. PAUL, Minn. - St. Jude Medical, Inc. today celebrates the 50th anniversary of the world’s first implantable pacemaker.
On Oct. 8, 1958, a Swedish man named Arne Larsson received the world’s first implanted pacemaker.
The groundbreaking technology for the implantable cardiac pacemaker was developed by Rune Elmqvist, M.D., of the Swedish company Elema Schönander, which eventually became part of St. Jude Medical, whose headquarters are based in St. Paul, Minn.
Larsson suffered from a life-threatening heart condition and in the autumn of 1958, when he was 43 years old, his condition became critical. His heartbeat reduced to 20 beats per minute (a healthy heart beats 60-100 times per minute) and he was afflicted by frequent fainting spells, called Stokes-Adams syndrome. His condition was so life-threatening that his wife urged his physician, in a last attempt to save his life, to expedite the process of implanting the first pacemaker. The pacemaker was surgically implanted by Åke Senning, M.D., at the Karolinska Hospital’s Heart Clinic in Stockholm.
The initial pacemaker implanted in Larsson was damaged during the operation and stopped functioning after the first night. A second identical pacemaker was surgically implanted the next day. Larsson’s life was saved, and due to the continuation of medical technology development, he lived a full and active life, using a total of 22 pacemakers during his lifetime. In 2001, he passed away at the age of 86 due to an illness unrelated to cardiac health; he outlived both the inventor, and the implanting physician, of the first implanted pacemaker.
The first implantable pacemaker was about the size of a hockey puck and had just two transistors.

Today’s pacemakers, which can last up to 20 years, can be as small as a half-dollar yet contain sophisticated computer technology with as many as 20 million transistors. However, today’s pacemakers are still based on the same underlying principles as the original device, invented by Dr. Elmqvist 50 years ago.

“The remarkable story of Arne Larsson and the first implantable pacemaker is a poignant reminder of how much has been accomplished in the past 50 years,” said Daniel J. Starks, chairman, president and chief executive officer of St. Jude Medical. “This milestone invention was the foundation for understanding the electrical functions of the heart, eventually saving millions of lives worldwide. Advancements in cardiac electrophysiology – which now include implanted defibrillators that protect against sudden cardiac death, and ablation therapies that stop abnormal heart rhythms – all began with the first pacing technologies.”

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