Achieving precise adjustments of ventribular heartbeats

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has approved addition of sequential biventricular pacing – or ventricle-to-ventricle (V-V) – to Medtronic InSync Sentry and InSync Maximo cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds).

V-V timing allows physicians to separately adjust timing of electrical therapy delivered to a heart failure patient's two ventricles, in order to optimize beating of the heart and so enhance blood flow throughout the body.

CRT works by resynchronizing the contractions of the heart's ventricles by means of tiny electrical impulses sent to the heart muscle. This helps the heart pump blood throughout the body more efficiently, reducing heart failure symptoms. Defibrillation applies electrical impulses to stop potentially lethal heart rhythms.

Insync Sentry and Insync Maximo devices are now being shipped with V-V timing included. For patients having previous models of the devices, special software is available to provide V-V benefit through simple, in-clinic software re-programming. This means that patients won't have to undergo another implant to avail themselves of the latest technology.