An external artificial pacemaker with internal heart electrode is first used. To maintain a patient's heartbeat rhythm an electrode was sewn to the wall of the heart and connected through the chest to an external desktop pulse generator. A team of scientists at the University of Minnesota, led by Dr C. Walton Lillehei, made this medical advance. However, such bulky equipment was not a good long-term solution since infection often occurred along the electrode wires, and the device required no interruption in the house electricity. So Dr. Lillehei also initiated research on the use of a small portable external pacemaker for these patients with heart block. This ultimately led to the development of the billion-dollar pacemaker industry.

A new glue, Dermabond, able to replace painful stitches, won the unanimous vote of a medical advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration, which, in Aug 1998, approved it for marketing in the U.S. It was the first such product in the U.S. The manufacturer, Closure Medical, said Dermabond could seal off certain wounds quickly, without the need for painful shots, With the use of Dermabond, a wound can be kept closed, sterile and flexible while it is healing. A doctor simply presses the cut edges together and paints the glue across the top. The proper medical application takes skill and practice, so the glue isn't meant for home use. This is medical-grade glue that is a chemical cousin of Crazy Glue (which is too toxic to repair cuts) using proprietary cyanoacrylate technology.