ST. JUDE TESTS NEW DEVICE FOR CHRONIC CHEST PAIN

St. Jude Medical announced the first patient has been implanted in a pilot study that will preliminarily evaluate if stimulating nerves near the spinal cord will control chronic chest pain caused by angina.

A 53-year-old Massachusetts woman is the first person to receive this investigational device, called the Genesis neurostimulation system.

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a therapy that uses mild electrical pulses from an implanted device to stimulate targeted nerves. An SCS device looks and operates much like a cardiac pacemaker, except that instead of sending pulses to the heart, it sends them to leads located near the spinal cord. In this trial, SCS is being tested to see if it interrupts angina pain signals, according to St. Jude.

The study is being conducted under an FDA investigational device exemption.