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 | | Tuesday, 26 February, 2002, 19:02 GMT New pacemaker for tiny tot  Katie Burke was fitted with the smallest-ever pacemaker A two-year-old girl who was fitted with the world's smallest pacemaker has had the device replaced with a bigger model. Twin Katie Burke of Stechford in Birmingham, who weighed just 4lbs 6oz when she was born six weeks premature in March 1999, had a hole in her heart. Three weeks later, surgeons at Birmingham's Diana Princess of Wales Children's Hospital fitted the baby with a mini pacemaker the size of a 50p piece. The pacemaker was inserted through a vein in her armpit in a pioneering procedure. Sleeping better Katie has now returned to the hospital and a new device has been inserted. It is approximately the size of two �2 coins placed on top of one another. Her mother, Sue Burke, said: "We told Katie that she has a big girl's pacemaker as she was getting older and growing up."
She and her husband Joe have already started to notice the effect of the new pacemaker on their daughter's sleeping patterns. "One of the differences that we have noticed is that she is having a better and longer night's sleep. "The new pacemaker is programmed to operate at a slower rhythm at night, just like everybody else's heart." Mrs Burke added: "Katie bounced back after the procedure to insert her new pacemaker and the following day was playing with her twin Joanna on the ward. Katie's twin sister Joanna was born without complications. Pacemakers regulate a patient's heartbeat by sending an electrical charge from a tiny lithium battery down a wire to the heart muscle. The new pacemaker will be replaced in about six years' time, Mrs Burke said. | |   See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||
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