Boston Scientific enrols first patient in multisensor CRT clinical
trial
12 July 2010
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has enrolled the
first patient in its MultiSENSE clinical trial. The trial is designed to
evaluate multiple physiologic sensors in the Company's Cognis cardiac
resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds).
Boston Scientific plans to use the trial data to help develop a
clinical alert that identifies the early onset of worsening heart
failure.
When combined with the Company's Latitude Patient Management
System, CRT-D sensors would be able to monitor a patient outside of
a clinical setting and permit the Latitude system to deliver early
notification to the physician when the patient's heart failure
worsens.
"Heart failure is a complex disease and physicians use a number
of diagnostics to assess a patient's condition and disease
progression," said John Boehmer, M.D., Medical Director, Heart
Failure Program and Professor of Medicine, Penn State Hershey
Medical Center and Principal Investigator of the MultiSENSE trial.
"A multi-sensor design in an implantable device, with the predictive
power of multiple data points, would enable physicians to take
clinical action sooner to avoid hospitalization due to heart
failure."
"The MultiSENSE trial marks a significant step toward addressing
the unmet needs of heart failure patients," said Kenneth Stein,
M.D., Chief Medical Officer, CRM, for Boston Scientific's
Cardiology, Rhythm and Vascular Group. "Boston Scientific's unique
multi-sensor approach is designed to allow our CRT-Ds to assess the
same symptoms and data a doctor evaluates when seeing a heart
failure patient in the office."
Heart failure is a debilitating condition that affects a
patient's quality of life and life expectancy. It is a condition in
which the heart weakens and gradually loses the ability to pump
blood effectively. Approximately 22 million people worldwide suffer
from heart failure and nearly one million new cases are diagnosed
annually, making it the most rapidly growing cardiovascular
disorder.