Clinical evaluation begins for Medtronic pain device and new control unit used by patient.MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 1994-- Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : MDT MDT abbr. Mountain Daylight Time MDT (in the US and Canada) Mountain Daylight Time MDT n abbr (US) (= mountain daylight time) → ) today announced the first human implant of its Itrel(R) 3 Spinal Cord spinal cord, the part of the nervous system occupying the hollow interior (vertebral canal) of the series of vertebrae that form the spinal column, technically known as the vertebral column. Stimulation System for control of chronic pain. The new system is controlled with a small, hand-held programmer enabling patients to fine-tune their own therapy. Dr. J Noun 1. Dr. J - United States basketball forward (born in 1950) Erving, Julius Erving, Julius Winfield Erving .P. van Buyten, anesthesiologist Anesthesiologist A medical specialist who administers an anesthetic to a patient before he is treated. Mentioned in: Anesthesia, General, Appendectomy, Parathyroidectomy anesthesiologist and pain specialist, implanted the system at Sint (correct) Niklaas Hospital, Sint Niklaas, Belgium. The patient is a 42-year-old man who had been suffering from chronic pain in his back and legs that was unrelieved by several surgical procedures. Dr. van Buyten said implantation went well, that full coverage of the painful area had been achieved, and that the patient was discharged from hospital the day after implant. Clinical evaluations of the Itrel 3 system will be under way soon at other European sites. The Itrel 3 system follows Medtronic's Itrel and Itrel II, the world's most widely used implantable spinal cord stimulation systems. A typical patient for the state-of-the-art technologies of these systems is the "failed back patient" who has suffered a back injury, undergone several surgeries, and continues to have severe, chronic radiating leg pain. The Itrel 3 pulse generator Pulse generator An electronic circuit capable of producing a waveform that rises abruptly, maintains a relatively flat top for an extremely short interval, and then rapidly falls to zero. is designed to be surgically implanted in the abdominal area with an insulated lead carrying electrical impulses to electrodes surgically implanted over the spinal cord. Using telemetry telemetry Highly automated communications process by which data are collected from instruments located at remote or inaccessible points and transmitted to receiving equipment for measurement, monitoring, display, and recording. signals from an external programmer, the clinician adjusts the parameters of electrical stimuli that block pain impulses traveling up the spine to the brain. The new system includes the Itrel EZ, a hand-held device about the size of a TV remote control that allows the patient to activate therapy and adjust its amplitude by telemetry within the preset parameters. Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is the world's leading therapeutic medical device company. CONTACT: Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis
Dale Beumer (Investor Relations), 612/574-3038 or
Dick Reid (Public Relations), 612/574-3052
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