Boston Scientific announces European approval and launch of advanced pacemakers

Boston Scientific has announced that its Altrua family of pacemakers have received the CE mark of approval and will now be launched in the European market.

The firm claims that the Altrua is its most advanced pacemaker to date, offering enhanced therapies while maintaining long battery life and a compact size.

It is the first pacemakers from the firm that can treat bradycardia, a condition where the heart beats at less than 60bmp, depriving the body of oxygen.

The pacemaker gives doctors a number of therapeutic and diagnostic capabilities to facilitate the customisation of treatment to their patients.

These include multiple atrial ventricular delay programming, minute ventilation blended sensor, ventricular rate regulation and automatic capture.

Fred Colen, executive vice-president of operations and technology of the company’s cardiac rhythm management (CRM) group, said: “European approval of Boston Scientific’s Altrua family of pacemakers is the latest example of the significant progress we have made rebuilding our CRM organisation and reinvigorating our product pipeline.”

He added that the novel technology incorporated into the Altrua underlines the company’s dedication to treating bradycardia.

Last month, Boston Scientific announced the completion of enrolment in its multicentre automatic defibrillator implantation trial with cardiac resynchronisation therapy.