While medical implants can be of great value to patients, they often make it unsafe to receive MRI scans, putting a brake on future diagnoses. Medtronic has been working on making many of its devices MRI compatible when done under certain conditions.
In that vein, the company is now releasing in Europe a line of implantable neurostimulation devices that are compatible with full-body MRI scans. These implants that use Medtronic’s Vectris SureScan MRI leads include RestoreSensor SureScan MRI, PrimeAdvanced SureScan MRI, RestoreAdvanced SureScan MRI, and RestoreUltra SureScan MRI. The devices are not yet approved by the FDA and not available in the U.S.
Medtronic SureScan neurostimulation systems address a significant medical need for full-body MRI compatibility by enabling patients who are receiving Medtronic neurostimulation therapy for chronic back and/or leg pain (also called spinal cord stimulation, or SCS) to have access to the benefits of full-body MRI. Until now, SCS patients were denied full-body MRI scans because of fears of the system being affected by the large magnets involved in MRI.
Medtronic SureScan neurostimulation systems include enhancements to existing devices as well as specially designed leads to reduce or eliminate the hazards produced by the MRI environment. The devices also include a proprietary SureScan programming feature, which sets the device into an appropriate mode for the MRI environment.
Press release: Medtronic Introduces the First and Only Neurostimulation Systems with CE Mark Approval for Full-Body MRI Scans