The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved medical device company St. Jude Medical's Ellipse implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).
Conceptualized by physicians during focus groups, the Ellipse ICD’s shape is unlike any device currently available and designed to increase patient comfort and physician ease-of-use, claims the company.
The device comprises angled header and rounded edges to improve the way a lead wraps around the device once connected, resulting in a smaller incision and reduced pocket size.
The Ellipse ICD features SecureSense RV Lead Noise Discrimination, an algorithm that expands St. Jude Medical ShockGuard Technology that differentiates lead noise from true ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation episodes requiring therapy.
The Ellipse ICD allows for 36 J in delivered energy, and adheres to the International Standards Organization (ISO) DF4 connector specification, which reduces the number of connections between the defibrillation lead.
St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division president Eric Fain said, "With the launch of the Ellipse ICD and the Assura family of implantable defibrillators, St. Jude Medical is able to provide physicians with a complete portfolio of devices that meet the individualized needs of patients, and our customers’ needs for reliable, efficient technologies."
ICDs are advanced implantable devices that treat potentially lethal, abnormally fast heart rhythms (ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation) that often lead to sudden cardiac death (SCD).