Medtronic launches world’s first MRI-safe pacing system

Since pacemakers are known not to work with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), people with implanted cardiac devices are not allowed to undergo MRI scans. To overcome this, Medtronic, Inc. has introduced the MR-Conditional pacemaker system, the EnRhythm MRI™ SureScan™ pacemaker and CapSureFix MRI™ SureScan™ pacing leads (Model 5086MRI). This is the world’s first MRI-safe pacing system.

The pacemaker system was found to deal with the interactions between the pacing system and the magnetic resonance environment. And it is intended to be used with MRI under particular scanning conditions.

The system includes modified hardware, which minimises the level of energy transmitted through the lead / device connection point and also eliminates the impact of MRI-generated electrical noise. The leads decrease the risk of overheating during an MRI scan without limiting the ability to conduct therapy. Both the system and leads also contain radiopaque marks, which are viewable using X-ray.