Medical Devices containing electronic components, which are implanted in the body either permanently or temporarily are called Active Implants.

The first clinical implantation into a human of an Active Implant was that of an implantable pacemaker in 1958 at the Karolinska Institute in Solna, Sweden, by Rune Elmqvist and surgeon Åke Senning.

The cardiac pacemaker became a major medical device with a current market size of almost $4B. It became the model for the development of implantable neurostimulators. such as Deep-Brain-Stimulators in the late 1990's.

A second family of Active Implants, the Sensorial Prosthesis, were derived from the classical hearing aid that was migrating under the skin to become a cochlear implant. The first developments started as early as 1957 when Djourno and Eyriès implanted the first single channel device with a transcutaneous link and in 1961 when William House implanted the first device. This development subsequently opened the possibility of the development of the first Retinal Implants.

A third branch was the implantable infusion pump technology which started with Christopher Dyer Saudek,at the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Diabetes Center. From this approach impla ntable infusion pumps for pain and cancer treatment were derived.

In the last few years several new applications have emerged for implantable electronics such as electronic Gastric Bands, EEG Monitors to detect hypoglycemia and artificial urinary sphincters.

The Active Implants market represents a B$40.0 market which has been growing seven to ten percent annually since 2007. Safety and efficacy of active implants have continued to improve and the bubble of aging baby boomers entering their senior years has stimulated growth. Market growth can be expected despite the drive to reduce health care costs.

Valtronic's experience in the Active Implant market is extensive.Worldwide Valtronic has 17 Active Implant programs running which is a large share of the market amongst Contract Manufacturers. Valtronic combines exceptionally high quality, creative design solutions and the ability to provide customers a design which optimizes manufacturability and scalability.

Examples of Active Implants that Valtronic supplies to its OEM customers are cochlear implants and their external sound processing units, pulse generators that mitigate pain, devices to control obesity or smart pills which are swallowed by a patient collecting and transmitting data as they pass through the digestive track. We offer engineering consulting, development and production of advanced assemblies for the electronic control boards inside such systems.  For more information contact:

Switzerland:  Frederic Mauron:  fmauron@valtronic.com

USA: Jim Ohneck:  johneck@valtronic.com