Medtronic launches smallest available implantable cardiac monitor

Medtronic has announced the international launch of the Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) System, following the US Food and Drug Administration giving clearance for the device.

The Reveal LINQ is now the smallest ICM available to patients, being approximately one-third the size of an AAA battery – around 80 percent smaller than competing monitors.

Despite the reduced scale, the device allows physicians to continuously and wirelessly monitor a person's heart for up to three years. It is also capable of storing 20 percent more data than the Reveal XT, the monitor's larger predecessor.

The Reveal LINQ also connects to Medtronic's Carelink Network, through which doctors can request a notification should the patient experience a cardiac event.

Inserted through a incision of less than 1 cm, the device is placed using a minimally invasive procedure and is nearly invisible to the naked eye when installed in the patient's body.

Pat Mackin, senior vice-president of Medtronic, said the Reveal LINQ had been made possible by "many years of product development".

"This is game-changing technology for patients who need cardiac monitoring, and we look forward to providing them with the most technologically advanced and minimally invasive approach possible," he commented.