This achievement is the result of nearly seven years of collaborative research involving multiple institutions, including the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and several hospitals. The study has been published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering .
This technological breakthrough could extend the lifespan of pacemakers to match the heart's natural lifespan, addressing the crucial issue of repeated replacement surgeries and paving a new path toward lifetime maintenance-free, human-machine symbiotic implantable electronic devices, explained Ouyang Han, the article's lead author and an associate professor at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
An implantable pacemaker is a very important device to restore normal heart rhythm in patients.
In addition to regulating cardiac activity, such bioelectronic implants are also widely used to restore movement, vision, and hearing functions, as well as pain management and disease diagnosis, thus providing crucial support for early intervention, appropriate treatment, and long-term management of serious conditions.
However, a persistent challenge remains: when the battery runs out, patients must undergo further surgery to replace the device, which poses additional risks and financial burdens.
Therefore, lifetime maintenance-free use is a key target in this field, with sustainable energy supply being the main obstacle.
The key innovation in the capsule-sized pacemaker lies in its integrated energy regeneration module, which captures kinetic energy from the heart's movements through electromagnetic induction and converts it into electrical energy.
Numerous tests have shown that its output power exceeds the critical threshold required for lifetime use, enabling it to reliably supply energy to the pacemaker circuit and precisely regulate the heart rhythm.
This device also features a miniaturized design that has excellent biocompatibility and hemocompatibility, enabling minimally invasive transcatheter implantation and significantly reducing surgical trauma.
