A 63-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man are the first recipients of wireless pacemakers at the Hadassah Medical Organization.

The Micra pacemaker, which has just been introduced in Israel, is less than one-tenth the size of traditional pacemakers–comparable in size to a large vitamin. It is delivered to the heart using a catheter inserted at the groin, through the patient’s arteries. Traditional pacemakers are implanted through an incision in the chest and connected to the heart with a wire.

Rather than use wires, known as “leads,” to deliver pacing therapy, this new device is attached to the heart via small tines and delivers electrical impulses that pace the heart through an electrode at the end of the device.

“It went fantastically,” said Senior Cardiologist Dr. David Luria of Hadassah’s Electrophysiology Unit, who implanted the pacemakers.