A seven-month-old baby girl in northeast China has had a
pacemaker implanted in her heart, making her the second youngest in
China to have a pacemaker.
The baby, called Xinyi, was born with a heart rate of only 40
times a minute, one third of that of a healthy baby.
"Shortly after the surgery was finished, her heart rate was
clocked at 60 times a minute," said Meng Fanchao, the doctor in
charge of the operation with Jilin Heart Disease Hospital.
The pacemaker, made in the United States, is as small as a
matchbox, said Meng.
"The baby's heart is scarred by the previous surgery and it is
too small to have muscles. We found it extremely hard to fix the
pacemaker," Meng said. "When Xinyi reaches the age of ten, she will
need to have a new pacemaker implanted."
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)