A blog about what is new (and old) in the world of active implantable medical devices

Monthly Archives: April 2014

St. Jude’s Protégé Upgradeable Neurostimulator Receives FDA Approval

Posted on by Posted in Pain, Spinal Cord Stimulation, St. Jude Medical

St. Jude Protege Neurostimulator www.implantable-device.com David Prutchi PhD

St. Jude Medical today announced the approval of its Protégé™ IPG from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Protégé is the first and only neurostimulation system that allows spinal cord stimulation (SCS) technology upgrades as they are approved to be made via software updates.  According to the press release:

Chronic pain sufferers implanted with this new device can access innovative therapies, stimulation modes, diagnostics or other features once approved through future software upgrades — without the need to surgically replace their medical device.

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Pacesetter’s 1973 Rechargeable Pacemaker

Posted on by Posted in Alfred E. Mann, Cardiac Pacing, Dr. Robert Fischell, History, Museum, Pacesetter, Power Sources, Rechargeable Batteries, Wireless Power Transmission

Demo of a rechargeable Pacesetter pacemaker at the Udvar-Hazy Center. www.implantable-device.com, David Prutchi PhD

Yesterday I visited the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, VA.  There I found this demo rechargeable pacemaker being displayed as a spinoff of NASA’s technology with the following explanation:

Demo of a rechargeable Pacesetter pacemaker at the Udvar-Hazy Center. www.implantable-device.com, David Prutchi PhD

Pacesetter model BD102 VVI rechargeable pacemaker www.implantable-devices.com David Prutchi PhDI can’t remember exactly where I found the picture of a Pacesetter model BD102 VVI, but the story behind it is documented by Kirk Jeffrey in “Machines in our Hearts”:

“In 1968, Robert Fischell, of the Applied Physics LOaboratory at Johns Hopkins University, and cardiologist Kenneth B. Lewis had begun a collaboration that led in 1973 to a new kind of Ni-Cad battery able to function more effectively at body temperature and hermetically sealable.  Alfred E. Mann, a California entrepreneur with background in the aerospace industry, had provided some financial support to the Hopkins group.  Eventually Mann founded a small company to develop a pacemaker for the rechargeable battery; this was the origin of Pacesetter Systems.  The rechargeable pacemaker reached the market in the summer of 1973, just as CPI introduced its lithium pacer.”