Australia’s regulatory authority, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has issued a hazard alert pertaining to one of Medtronic’s pacing devices, the Consulta® Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Pacemaker (CRT-P). The alert coincides somewhat with Medtronic’s own issuance of a field safety notice concerning Consulta and Syncra® CRT-P devices.
Background
Consulta and Syncra CRT-Ps are implantable medical devices used to treat heart failure. The devices provide pacing to help coordinate the heart’s pumping action and improve blood flow.
The two devices are the subject of a global manufacturer recall after Medtronic had identified an issue with a subset of both during production, although as yet there had been no reported or confirmed device failures. However, because of the potential for malfunction, Medtronic is requiring the return of non-implanted devices manufactured between April 1 and May 13, 2013 for re-inspection.
Seemingly this manufacturing issue could compromise the sealing of the device. Should an out-of-spec weld fail this could result in body fluids entering the device, which could cause it to malfunction leading to loss of pacing output. This could potentially see the return of symptoms including fainting or lightheadedness, dyspnoea (shortness of breath), fatigue and oedema.
Medtronic’s recall is thought to relate to 265 devices, 44 of which have been implanted in the US.
The Australian warning letter, issued by the TGA states that only one “at risk” Consulta CRT-P device has been implanted in the country and there have been no reports of device failures or patient injuries relating to this issue.
Neither Medtronic nor the TGA are suggesting any specific patient management measures other than routine follow-up in accordance with labelling instructions.
Source: TGA, MHRA