St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ) today announced it has received European CE Mark approval for the industry’s first quadripolar pacing system for cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds). The quadripolar system offers physicians the ability to more effectively and efficiently manage the ever-changing pacing needs of patients with heart failure. It integrates multiple pacing options and features that enable physicians to better manage common pacing complications without having to surgically reposition the lead.
“Managing heart failure patients is often challenging and typically involves ongoing medical management,” said Dr. Klaus Gutleben, consultant cardiologist at the Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. “This new quadripolar pacing system provides more options for managing the needs of my patients with heart failure and reduces the patient’s risk of needing multiple surgical procedures, which should lead to more efficient patient care.”
The quadripolar system, with the Quartet™ left ventricular pacing lead, features four pacing electrodes on the left ventricular lead – enabling up to 10 pacing configurations. Multiple pacing configurations provide physicians with more options to pace around scar tissue in the heart and avoid common pacing complications without the need to surgically reposition the lead.
Common pacing complications that can occur in patients implanted with a CRT system include high pacing thresholds and unintentional phrenic nerve or diaphragmatic stimulation. Patients with high pacing thresholds require significantly higher energy to pace the heart; this may reduce the device’s battery life or cause pacing to fail. Phrenic nerve and diaphragmatic stimulation occur when the electrical output from a device inadvertently activates the diaphragm muscle (either directly or via the phrenic nerve), causing hiccups upon each pacing stimulus. Both high pacing thresholds and phrenic nerve or diaphragmatic stimulation are often due to the location of the pacing lead electrode.