St Jude Medical’s Quadra Assura CRT-D approved for MRI compatibility

St Jude Medical has announced that its Quadra Assura cardiac resynchronisation therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) device has been approved for use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning systems.

The company has received CE Mark approval for MR conditional labelling for the Quadra Assura and Quadra Assura MP with MultiPoint Pacing, allowing them to be used with MRI scanning systems with strengths of up to 1.5 Tesla.

With the standard CRT-D device, patients can benefit from an improvement in quality of life and a 53 percent reduction in hospitalisation rates, while the Quadra Assura MP version incorporates the industry's only MultiPoint Pacing technology on a single left ventricular lead.

With the addition of MRI compatibility, the company hopes to improve access to potentially vital diagnostic imaging among heart failure patients.

Dr Eric Fain, group president at St Jude Medical, said: "Adding MRI availability to our market-leading quadripolar technology advances options for patients and ensures future access to diagnostic imaging they may need in their heart failure treatment."

This comes after the firm also launched its new Proclaim Elite Spinal Cord Stimulation System in Europe last week.