A Medical Device Daily

Biotronik (Berlin), a pioneer in remote monitoring technologies for patients with cardiac devices, has launched its Home Monitoring system in India, and also has established commercial headquarters in India for both its Cardiac Rhythm Management and Vascular Intervention businesses.

“We are committed to providing cardiovascular patients in India with the highest quality implantable cardiac devices and the latest remote monitoring technologies,” said Dr. Werner Braun, managing director of the company.

This wireless telecardiology solution was introduced on Feb. 12 with the implant of Biotronik’s newest pacemaker, the Cylos DR-T with Closed Loop Stimulation (CLS), at the Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center (New Delhi).

The Cylos DR-T, with CLS, is part of Biotronik’s most technologically advanced bradycardia product portfolio, delivering proven physiologic rate adaptive therapy for optimized hemodynamics in pacemaker patients.

The Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center and other clinics like it across India, now can continuously monitor their patients with Biotronik cardiac devices remotely, allowing physicians to verify diagnostic and technical device data online. Home Monitoring is also for patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, with continuous automatic daily data transmissions of the patient’s cardiovascular status to the physician from anywhere in the world using an antenna integrated in the device and the GSM telephone network.

The Home Monitoring technology has been praised as a “quantum leap” in cardiac arrhythmia therapy by local cardiologists. “We are targeting about 25 implantations in the first year, which could reach up to 500 in the next three to five years,” said T.S. Kler, MD, managing director of Escorts Heart Institute & Research Center.

Biotronik’s Home Monitoring system has been introduced in 45 countries worldwide and is available for 100,000 implanted cardiac devices, with more than 2,500 clinics participating.

BSD Medical participates in India conference

In other India med-tech news, BSD Medical (Salt Lake City) said that Richard White, its VP of international sales, along with leading researchers in hyperthermia therapy, participated in a panel discussion during the International Conference on Hyperthermic Oncology and Medicine held at the Mahavir Cancer Center in Patna, India, in mid-February.

The two-day meeting focused on the use of hyperthermia therapy in treating cancer. The panel on which White participated was centered upon strategies to bring hyperthermia therapy to developing countries. At the meeting, the invited scientists spoke on the clinical support for the use of hyperthermia therapy in treating cancer, largely as performed on BSD Medical’s hyperthermia systems.

More than 800,000 people in India are diagnosed with cancer every year, and more than 400,000 die from the disease annually. Of these, lung cancer (250,000 cases), cervical cancer (126,000 cases) and breast cancer (80,000 cases) are the most prevalent.

About 70% of the cases are diagnosed when the cancer is in an advanced T3 or T4 stage, where the use of hyperthermia therapy may be particularly implied for some cancers.

South American distribution for Misonix

Misonix (Farmingdale, New York), a developer of ultrasonic medical device technology for the treatment of cancer and other acute or chronic health conditions, said that it has begun selling its SonaStar Ultrasonic Surgical Aspiration System in Chile through distributor MD International (Miami).

The company said four systems have been shipped to date in anticipation of placing them in hospitals throughout the country.

MD International has operating units or sales offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rico.

Misonix and MD International said they anticipate entering into a more comprehensive agreement in the near future for the sales and distribution of selected product lines throughout most of Latin America.

Misonix also said that it has begun selling the SonaStar system into Ecuador in collaboration with B. Braun Medical SA, a subsidiary of B. Braun Melsungen AG. To date, three systems have been placed in hospitals in that country, and an order has been received for a fourth system, which will ship in the near future.

The SonaStar system allows physicians to perform the selective removal of tumors or other abnormal tissue while sparing vessels as much as possible. The system also is capable of performing precise bone shaping and is compatible with most electrocautery devices in controlling bleeding during certain surgical procedures.

Spacelabs gets $1 million order

OSI Systems (Hawthorne, California), said that its Spacelabs Healthcare (Issaquah, Washington) division has received an order for about $1.1 million from an undisclosed hospital in South America for patient monitors.

Spacelabs patient monitors provide clinicians with a large display unit and comprehensive monitoring capabilities at the bedside while also enabling clinicians to monitor patients wirelessly as they are being transferred within the critical care environment.

Deepak Chopra, CEO of OSI Systems, said, “We continue to expand our presence in emerging markets. [This] announcement is of significance as this prominent academic hospital in South America provides us with a strategic reference site to leverage upon for our future sales and marketing efforts within the region.”

Canadian firm to market Med-eMonitor

InforMedix Holdings (Rockville, Maryland) reported that Creative Tecknology, a Canadian consumer technology retailer, will market and sell the company’s Med-eMonitor System directly to its customers, and through its relationships with pharmacies.

InforMedix said Creative Tecknology has begun implementing plans to approach Health Canada and Canadian provincial health authorities to seek health system reimbursement for the Med-eMonitor.