Medtronic launches three new pacemakers

29 August 2006

Minneapolis, USA. Medtronic, Inc., (NYSE:MDT) has introduced a portfolio of fully automatic pacemakers, the Medtronic Adapta, Versa, and Sensia. Recently approved by the FDA, they provide physiologic pacing adapted to the needs of individual patients and reduce unnecessary pacing when the heart's natural conduction is present.

The Adapta pacemaker offers the Medtronic's pacing mode, Managed Ventricular Pacing (MVP), which enables the device to be programmed to deliver pacing pulses to the heart's lower right chamber (ventricle) only when necessary. MVP has been shown to reduce unnecessary right ventricular pacing by 99% (median value). Recent clinical studies have suggested that reducing this pacing stimulation may reduce the patient's risk of developing heart failure and atrial fibrillation, a potentially life-threatening irregular heartbeat.

The new pacemaker systems also incorporate an array of automatic features to help physicians improve pacing therapy and streamline the patient follow-up process, potentially minimizing the amount of time spent in a physician's office. The Adapta, Versa and Sensia pacemakers are completely automatic, and include the Medtronic-exclusive feature Atrial Capture Management (ACM). ACM is intended to automatically adjust impulses for optimal stimulation of the heart's upper right chamber (atrium).

The Adapta pacemaker portfolio, featuring algorithms clinically proven to effectively promote intrinsic conduction, is a key component of Medtronic's Physiologic Pacing Program (MP(3)) initiative that illustrates where, when and how to best pace the heart. This helps educate physicians on recent clinical evidence about ventricular pacing and provides them with tailored solutions to either promote or mimic a patient's normal cardiac function.

"We have reached a new level of care with the Adapta portfolio of pacemakers," said Steve Mahle, president, Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Management. "The convenience of automaticity coupled with its physiologic pacing capabilities will bring to bear significant benefits for physicians and the more than 900,000 patients worldwide who receive a pacemaker each year."

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