St. Jude Medical Nanostim Leadless Pacemaker Receives Prestigious Award at the Annual Phoenix Conference

World’s first leadless pacemaker honored by industry leaders as most promising new product

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced the Nanostim™ leadless pacemaker was awarded the Most Promising New Product Award at the 2014 Phoenix Conference, the 21st annual conference for executive leaders in the medical device industry. The award, which was chosen by industry executives and conveys the support of the medical device and diagnostic community, recognizes the Nanostim leadless pacemaker as the industry’s most promising new product. 

“The possibility of a leadless pacing technology has long been discussed and we are honored that our Nanostim pacemaker is being recognized at the 2014 Phoenix Conference by leaders in the medical device community,” said Eric S. Fain, M.D., group president of St. Jude Medical. “We are excited by the opportunity this technology has to transform the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and set a new standard of care for patients and physicians around the world." 

Unlike conventional pacemakers that require a more invasive surgery, the Nanostim leadless pacemaker is designed to be implanted directly into the heart via a non-surgical procedure. The device, which earned CE Mark approval in 2013, is designed to be placed without the visible surgical pocket, scar and insulated wires (called leads) required for conventional pacemakers. Implanted via the femoral vein with the smallest available leadless technology delivery system (includes the delivery system catheter and the Nanostim™ 18 F introducer), the device is designed to be fully retrievable so that it can be readily repositioned throughout the implant procedure and later, if necessary.

The Nanostim leadless pacemaker is less than 10 percent the size of a conventional pacemaker and is the least invasive pacing technology on the market today. The small size of the device and lack of a surgical pocket, coupled with the exclusion of a lead, improves patient comfort and can reduce traditional pacemaker complications, including device pocket-related infection and lead failure. The device battery is expected to have an average lifespan of more than nine years at 100 percent pacing, or more than 13 years at 50 percent pacing. 

The elimination of the visible lump and scar at a conventional pacemaker’s implant site, in addition to the removal of patient activity restrictions that may prevent the dislodgement or damage to a conventional lead, will potentially improve the quality of life for patients with this technology by allowing most to continue living active, uninhibited lifestyles. The device is supported by the St. Jude Medical Merlin™ Programmer, which is also used to interrogate and program the company’s other pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). 

Cardiac pacemakers are used to treat bradycardia, which is a heart rate that is too slow. These devices monitor the heart and provide electrical stimulation when the heart beats too slowly for each patient's specific physiological requirements. 

For more information about the 2014 Phoenix Conference, visit wsgr.com/news/phoenix/. 

Source: St. Jude Medical, Inc.