Boston Scientific is proud to welcome Cameron Health into its portfolio of cutting-edge CRM therapies

Boston Scientific is pleased to announce that it has completed its acquisition of Cameron Health, Inc. of San Clemente, California. The acquisition represents the beginning of a new chapter in a long-standing relationship between the two companies during which Boston Scientific invested in Cameron Health during its ground-breaking research and product commercialization efforts.

Cameron Health has pioneered the world's first and only subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator – the S-ICD® System. The S-ICD System establishes a new class of protection from sudden cardiac arrest that will offer more options to meet individual patient needs. The entire S-ICD System is designed to sit just below the skin and leaves the heart and blood vessels untouched, while providing the same defibrillation protection of transvenous ICDs. Subcutaneous ICDs preserve a patient’s venous system which may provide long-term advantages.

The S-ICD System has been distributed commercially outside the United States since July of 2009 and is an investigational device and not for sale in the U.S.

Accurate defibrillation therapy

Implantable defibrillators are designed to provide lifesaving therapy in the event of sudden cardiac arrest. Transvenous ICDs require one or more electrical wires to be placed through a patient’s veins into the heart. When an ICD senses a dangerously high heart rate, it will send an electrical pulse to the heart to reset its normal rhythm and allow the heart to resume pumping blood through the body. ICDs have been used for decades and have prolonged hundreds of thousands of lives.

In the future, there will be two different classes of ICDs being implanted: 1) transvenous ICDs and 2) subcutaneous ICDs. Both classes of ICDs will administer defibrillation therapy. Depending on a patient’s clinical needs, one may be more advantageous than the other.

Transvenous ICDs	The S-ICD System
Transvenous ICDs administer shocks through one or more electrical wires attached to the heart. Using x-ray imaging, the electrical wires are fed through the veins, into the heart, and across the heart valve. Once in place, the wires are attached to the heart wall.	Similar to transvenous ICDs, the subcutaneous ICDs are designed to provide lifesaving defibrillation therapy whenever it is needed. In contrast, the subcutaneous ICDs do not require electrical wires inside the venous system.

Subcutaneous ICDs are a new breed of ICD and will be implanted using a completely subcutaneous procedure by placing the electrode just under the skin and leaving the heart and blood vessels untouched. When sudden cardiac arrest is detected, the electrode will deliver a shock to the heart similar to external defibrillation. Even without directly touching the heart, the shock can reset the heart’s normal rhythm.

Subcutaneous ICDs are intended to provide defibrillation therapy for the treatment of life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients who do not have symptomatic bradycardia; incessant ventricular tachycardia; or spontaneous, frequently recurring ventricular tachycardia that is reliably terminated with anti-tachycardia pacing.