105-year-old woman receives pacemaker in exceptional surgery at Piemonte Hospital in Messina

Last Updated: March 26, 2024

Messina, eccezionale intervento all’ospedale Piemonte: impiantato un pacemaker a una donna di 105 anni

At 105 years old, she underwent a delicate surgical procedure that ended successfully. A biventricular pacemaker was implanted in an ultracentenarian patient at the Piemonte Hospital of the Irccs Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo in Messina. The grandmother had recently celebrated her record-breaking birthday, but had been diagnosed with an atrioventricular block that needed urgent treatment.

Directed to the Cardiology and Intensive Care Unit, led by Dr. Pier Cataldo D’Aleo, she was cared for by Dr. Giuseppe Picciolo, an electrophysiologist experienced in this type of procedure, exceptional due to the advanced age and consequently the fragility of the cardiovascular system. In fact, in 2018, he had already implanted a pacemaker in a man, at the time the oldest in Messina at 106 years old, who returned to the same hospital the following year for a hip fracture surgery, also successfully.

The surgery on the elderly woman was high-risk due to her health conditions and advanced age, but everything went well and the elderly woman was able to reunite with her family soon with a smile on her face. “Since 1970, the Cardiology Unit at Piemonte Hospital has been a reference for electrophysiology and cardiac stimulation in Messina. They perform implantations of all cardiac devices for heart rhythm management (pacemakers, defibrillators, and devices for electric therapy of heart failure) and transcatetere ablation procedures for the treatment of numerous arrhythmias.”