Ramsay Newsroom

Cardiologist Dr Ivan Subiakto performed the first ‘physiologic left bundle pacing procedure’ at Wollongong Private Hospital, and said he was thrilled to bring the technique to the region.

The physiologic pacing technique can be used on patients who require a pacemaker.

“In the pacemaker world the traditional way is to put the wire in the heart and that has been working effectively for the past 30 years or so. But sometimes the heart is not activated as physiologic as it should be,” Dr Subiakto explained.

“The way physiologic pacing works differently, is we anchor the pacemaker wire as close as possible to the heart’s native electrical system in the hope it will give a very similar electric propagation as the normal heart would,” he said.

Dean Boyton from Blackbutt was the first patient to experience the surgery at Wollongong Private in December 2020. He had collapsed at home and tests revealed his heart had paused for 20 seconds.

“Dr Subiakto and the whole hospital team were very professional… They were always very clear with what they were going to do, I’m very grateful,” MrBoyton said.

Dr Subiakto was amongst the first in the world to study physiologic pacing in Canada.  He said the technique had become more popular, particularly overseas, in the past two years and he was happy to now offer this option to patients at Wollongong Private Hospital.