Philadelphia baby recovering after receiving world's smallest pacemaker
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A baby is recovering at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia after receiving the smallest pacemaker in the world. The tiny pacemaker that is keeping the baby alive was adapted for him, necessity being the mother of invention.
It's now allowing him to recover from a dangerous heart condition.
At 6 months, Cameron Knowles is celebrating a half birthday that his mom is grateful for.
"For a while," Shakiara Pressley said, "we didn't know if he would make it."
Cameron was born with a heart block. He also has issues breathing and feeding.
To live he'd need a pacemaker, but there was a size issue.
"None of the devices are made for children or designed for the pediatric body size," Dr. Maully Shah, with CHOP, said.
Shah improvised with what's become the world's smallest pacemaker.
"This pacemaker has a battery," Shah said, "and it sends an electrical impulse to the heart."
The tiny pacemaker, the size of a AAA battery, had to be specially adapted for Cameron. Then, the team here at CHOP worked to get FDA clearance for humanitarian use.
"This is a unique situation because Cameron is one of 10 kids in the whole world to get this kind of pacemaker," Shah said.
This is the device that's usually implanted inside an adult heart, reconfigured for Cameron to be placed outside his heart.
It's a lot smaller than a conventional pacemaker, which allowed for less invasive surgery and a quicker recovery.
"The fact that it's the smallest in the world is just amazing," Pressley said.
But Pressley says the decision to try something so new was difficult.
"Just these decisions that you're forced to make as a parent to just make sure that he's well," Pressley said. "It's just, it's difficult. I'm just so thankful that it was an option for us."
Cameron is recovering and still needs some help breathing, but he's on track to be home soon.
"He works hard to be here," Pressley said. "I'm going to do whatever I can to keep him here."
A tiny device making big dreams come true.
Once he's home, doctors will be able to monitor Cameron's heart with a transmitter that's connected to the pacemaker and eventually, the tiny device will have to be replaced as Cameron grows.
