Medtronic ‘achieves reduction in epilepsy seizure rates’

Medtronic has revealed the results of its long-term research into deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy for epilepsy.

The treatment was shown to result in the improvement of median seizure frequency, reducing it by 41 per cent after one year.

After two years, the therapy brought about an improvement of 56 per cent, while three years on, the patients examined showed a 68 per cent drop in epileptic seizures in conjunction with antiepileptic medications, the study revealed.

Tom Tefft, president of the Neuromodulation business and senior vice-president at Medtronic, stated: “This study and our other research efforts focused on optimizing therapy reinforce our commitment to providing significant clinical evidence for DBS therapy for epilepsy.”

Last month. Medtronic revealed its financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2010, which showed revenue growth of six per cent during the period, compared to the correlating time of the 2009 financial year.