SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The way doctors put in a pacemaker is changing following a new procedure approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s called Conduction System Pacing, and one patient at Mercy Springfield was the first to undergo the surgery in Southwest Missouri.

“We ended up placing our first conduction system pacing Pacemaker on January 13, 2023,” Mercy electrophysiologist Dr. Indrajeet Mahata said.

The FDA approved the surgery late in 2022. It focuses on implanting a pacemaker in a more natural way.

“The traditional way of placing a pacemaker was to place one of the wires in the ventricle and supply the electricity that was necessary to make the heart pump,” Mahata said. “I would expect my patients to feel better because the electricity that is necessary for their hearts to beat is now being supplied by the Natural God gifted channels rather than being supplied by the muscle of the heart.”

Research details several benefits of this type of procedure.

“They could find the difference in hospitalization and recurrence and also heart failure symptoms improve within the first 30 days, and this difference only got wider as the months went on,” Mahata said.

Doctors will need specific training to conduct this type of procedure since it adds more steps to the procedure. Mahata said the risks are still low at less than two percent.

“I foresee that in the next five or ten years, a lot of our pacemakers would be done in this manner,” Mahata said.

Jim Allen was the first to undergo surgery in Southwest Missouri. Allen struggled with fatigue and found out his heart rate was low.

“I really feel good,” Allen said “My heart’s at a steady beat now. I’m not tired like I was all time. I’m able to go through the whole day and I can get done what I need to get done.”

Dr. Mahata believes this new procedure will become more commonly used in the next five to ten years.