MASSDEVICE ON CALL —Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) enrolled the first patients into the NECTAR-HF clinical study testing chronic vagal nerve stimulation as a therapy for heart failure patients.
“Stimulating the vagus nerve in the cervical region is commonly used to treat epilepsy and depression," principal investigator Dr. Faiez Zannad said in prepared remarks. "[H]owever, promising pre-clinical data show that this therapy may also help a large population of heart failure patients who are currently not candidates for heart failure device therapy."
The first implants in the 96-patient trial were received by patients at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Spain, according to the press release.
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