by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | January 18, 2012
The Accent MRI (Credit: St. Jude)
St. Jude Medical said Tuesday it released an "MRI-conditional" pacemaker in India that can let patients with the implants undergo some full-body MRI scans.
The Accent MRI pacemaker with Tendril MRI lead has been tested to be "conditionally safe" for use with full-body scans on a 1.5-Tesla MRI, St. Jude said on its website. The device received the CE mark, meaning it can be sold in Europe, in April.
According to a product brochure, the device allows a maximum whole body averaged specific absorption rate of 4 watts per kilogram. It also features a hand-held device, called the SJM MRI Activator, that lets doctors program pre-approved MRI settings.
In general, patients with pacemakers are restricted from most MRI scans for fear of the MRI's powerful magnet interfering with the heart rhythm-correcting devices. But a new batch of pacemakers are making it possible for patients to get MRI scans under certain conditions.
Last February, the Food and Drug Administration
approved the first MRI-compatible pacemaker for U.S. markets, the Revo MRI SureScan, made by St. Jude rival Medtronic Inc.
St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude estimates about 75 percent of patients with pacemakers could benefit from an MRI scan at some point in their lives.
