Medtronic Expands Visualase(TM) MRI-Guided Laser Ablation System to European Markets with CE Mark Approval

Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) announced today the CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark and European launch of the Visualase(TM) MRI-Guided Laser Ablation System. The Visualase system provides advanced MRI-guided laser ablation technology and can be used in neurosurgery procedures.

As quoted in the press release:

“The Visualase system will give neurosurgeons an additional minimally invasive option to precisely target and treat small areas of tissue,” said Professor Jürgen Voges, M.D., from Magdeburg, Germany. “We are looking forward to offering this procedure to our patients.”

The Visualase MRI-Guided Laser Ablation System received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in the United States in July 2007 to necrotize or coagulate soft tissue. Medtronic is currently involved in a pivotal SLATE (Stereotactic Laser Ablation for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) study in the United States to support an expanded FDA indication for the treatment of epilepsy in patients with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), the most common form of partial or localization related epilepsy.

Click here to read the full press release.