Pacemaker sends message direct from heart

GERMANY: They've been singing for years about love letters straight from the heart, but now German doctors have developed a …

GERMANY: They've been singing for years about love letters straight from the heart, but now German doctors have developed a pacemaker that can detect heart problems in the wearer and send an SOS text message straight from the heart to a doctor.

The SMS-Pacemaker was developed at St Joseph's Hospital in Potsdam, outside Berlin, and resembles a normal pacemaker, but for a small built-in antenna.

Every evening, the pacemaker transmits important blood-flow data from the day to a nearby mobile phone, which then forwards the information as a text message to the hospital for monitoring.

"I can sleep easy at night because I know that the SMS-Pacemaker will save my life in an emergency," said Mr Peter Nowak (62), one of the first men to be fitted with the device, to Germany's Bild newspaper.

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Developers of the device, say the constant monitoring could prevent heart problems before they begin.

The daily data check of blood flow through the heart's ventricles is a vast improvement on the annual pacemaker checks, said Dr Frantz.

In the case of irregular blood flow or other difficulties, the pacemaker is programmed to send a special SOS message to the hospital.

Derek Scally

Derek Scally

Derek Scally is an Irish Times journalist based in Berlin