The Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Power Source: Evolution and Revolution

Although the first power source for an implantable pacemaker was a rechargeable nickel-cadmium battery, it was rapidly replaced by an unreliable short-life zinc-mercury cell. This sustained the small pacemaker industry until the early 1970s, when the lithium-iodine cell became the dominant power source for low voltage, microampere current, single- and dual-chamber pacemakers. By the early 2000s, a number of significant advances were occurring with pacemaker technology which necessitated that the power source should now provide milliampere current for data logging, telemetric communication, and programming, as well as powering more complicated pacing devices such as biventricular pacemakers, treatment or prevention of atrial tachyarrhythmias, and the integration of innovative physiologic sensors. Because the current delivery of the lithium-iodine battery was inadequate for these functions, other lithium anode chemistries that can provide medium power were introduced. These include lithium-carbon monofluoride, lithium-manganese dioxide, and lithium-silver vanadium oxide/carbon mono-fluoride hybrids. In the early 1980s, the first implantable defibrillators for high voltage therapy used a lithium-vanadium pentoxide battery. With the introduction of the implantable cardioverter defibrillator, the reliable lithium-silver vanadium oxide became the power source. More recently, because of the demands of biventricular pacing, data logging, and telemetry, lithium-manganese dioxide and the hybrid lithium-silver vanadium oxide/carbon mono-fluoride laminate have also been used. Today all cardiac implantable electronic devices are powered by lithium anode batteries.