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Editor: Marc Jay Bern
Profession: Defective Medical Device Lawyer

Category: Medtronic News

One of the most common concerns for patients with pacemakers is that an MRI scan can prevent the pacemaker from properly pacing the heart.

An MRI is not a medical option for three million pacemaker patients worldwide, although it may be the only noninvasive tool available.

On Monday, Medtronic Inc. announced they have begun a new 470-patient study using a new pacemaker system that may be compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans - a commonly used diagnostic tool used in medicine.

If the Medtronic study is successful, the technology eventually may broaden to include implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), which shock an errantly beating heart back into rhythm, and perhaps to neurostimulators -- pacemaker-like devices that use electricity to treat a variety of diseases and conditions ranging from depression to movement disorders.