Boston Sci Cites Issues With Under-Chest-Muscle Defribillators
CNN Money.com
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) has advised doctors about potential problems with a small number of popular, newer heart defibrillators that were implanted beneath patients' chest muscles.
Boston Scientific's "Cognis" and "Teligen" devices are typically not implanted this way, and the company said in a letter to doctors dated Tuesday that subpectoral implantation should be avoided until improved products are available. About 77,000 of these defibrillators have been implanted around the world, but only about 5% were placed in a subpectoral location--this means about 3,850 devices are at issue.
Doctors should follow-up with patients with subpectoral implants at least once every three months, Boston Scientific said. The devices are usually placed just below the skin.