A newborn became one of the smallest-ever recipients of a pacemaker, undergoing the procedure just 15 minutes after being born.

Doctors at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital determined that Jaya Maharaj, born nine weeks premature, had only hours to live if they did not operate.

Stanford announced details of the operation this week.

Jaya was born with a heart rate of 45 beats per minute. A healthy newborn heartbeat is 120 to 150 beats per minute.

Dr. Katsuhide Maeda stitched the pacemaker's electrical leads to 3.5-pound (1.59-kilogram) Jaya's walnut-sized heart. He says she would otherwise have died.

Other doctors say the surgery was one of the most impressive of its kind and could lead more hospitals to attempt the procedure. (AP)