A central Iowa heart surgeon has designed a new device for touchy procedures that may cement him a place in medical history. Dr. Steven Bailin created what’s being called the Bailin Stylet. The J-shaped instrument is used to precisely place pacemaker wires deep inside a patient’s heart.That area in the heart, Bachmann’s Bundle, is believed to be the source of rapid, uncontrolled heartbeats — and that’s where the pacemaker wires need to go. Bailin, an electrophysiologist at the Iowa Heart Center in Des Moines, is using his device to lead a national study examining the benefits of pacemaker placement.For now, Bailin is the only surgeon in America allowed to use the device, pending F-D-A approval. Eventually, heart surgeons around the world may be using the instrument conceived & built in Iowa.
