
Mayo Clinic was the first medical center to use Medtronic Inc.’s (NYSE:MDT) heart tissue freezing device.
Hospital physician Dr. Douglas Packer yesterday treated an atrial fibrillation patient with the Minneapolis-based company’s Arctic Front cardiac cryoablation catheter system.
Medtronic won pre-market approval for the device from the Food & Drug Administration in December. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic was the site of the trial that led to the device’s regulatory clearance.
The minimally invasive device is indicated for patients who don’t respond to drug treatment and uses a balloon to freeze and subsequently destroy, or "ablate," cardiac tissue that is affecting the patient’s heart rhythm.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and affects more than 2 million Americans, according to Mayo Clinic.