A medical team at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital has implanted the world’s smallest pacemaker in a two-month-old baby.  Alexavier Zipp underwent the operation May 3, making him the first patient in the United States to receive the pacemaker.  The device, designed to treat patients with bradycardia, or slow heart rate, is approximately 40 percent smaller than the standard single chamber pacemaker and weighs just 12.8 grams.

Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital is part of the Loma Linda University Medical Center, an Adventist facility located in southern California, United States.  The center has earned international renown for its pioneering heart transplant program and for its medical research, including the development of a proton beam cancer treatment. More information about LLUMC can be found online at www.llu.edu.