Retrospect: Dunkirk man received pacemaker

A Dunkirk man became part of medical history 35 years ago when he received a new kind of pacemaker.  

Marion “Bud” Labig, 54, was the first of two people to receive a pacemaker designed to control rapid heartbeats.

On Sept. 10, 1983, The Commercial Review published an article about Labig’s procedure, which had taken place the prior week. 

Labig underwent surgery at the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis to implant the pacemaker. The device, invented by IU professor Dr. Douglas P. Zipes, was designed to counteract ventricular tachycardia (VT). 

Labig had been suffering from VT, a heart rhythm abnormality in which the bottom chamber of the heart beats rapidly and uncontrollably, for about a year. If left untreated, VT could lead to ventricular fibrillation, uncontrolled rapid beating that stops the flow of blood completely. 

He had had about 25 bouts at the time of his surgery, 10 of which had sent him to the emergency room for treatment. That treatment was shocking the heart with an electrical charge using paddles placed on his chest. 

“It kind of feels like they blow your whole body apart,” he told The CR. 

The pacemaker, placed above the heart, was designed to send a less severe electrical charge through a direct wire to the heart wall when VT was detected. It will send the first charge 32 heartbeats after VT occurs (about 15 seconds during an episode). If that doesn’t work, it will send two more mild shocks before sending two stronger charges. 

If that still didn’t work, Labig would have to go to the hospital for further treatment.

Labig was chosen for the inaugural VT pacemaker because he was not a good candidate for surgery and medicines had proven ineffective in the past.

At the time, IU Medical Center estimated that 90 percent of the 400,000 sudden deaths from cardiovascular causes in the U.S. each year were due to VT and ventricular fibrillation.