old news but interesting.Looks like SSH is being ultra careful...

old news but interesting.
Looks like SSH is being ultra careful in their development process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defibrillation

Defibrillation is a common treatment for life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Defibrillation consists of delivering a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the heart with a device called a defibrillator. This depolarizes a critical mass of the heart muscle, terminates the dysrhythmia and allows normal sinus rhythm to be reestablished by the body's natural pacemaker, in the sinoatrial node of the heart. Defibrillators can be external, transvenous, or implanted, depending on the type of device used or needed.

Oct 2012
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1383653
TCT-383
Transcutaneous-Powered Electrohydraulic Counterpulsation System For Ambulatory Non-Obligatory Chronic Heart Failure Treatment
William Cohn1, Mark Slaughter2, Rodney Parkin3, Dan Lafontaine4,
William Peters3
1Texas Heart Institute, Houston, TX, 2University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 3Sunshine Heart, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN, 4Sunshine Heart, Inc, Eden Prairie, MN
Background: A non-blood contacting, non-obligatory extra-ascending aortic counter- pulsation Cuff and sense lead coupled to a percutaneous pneumatic drive system (C-Pulse; Sunshine Heart, Inc, Eden Prairie MN) has been used in investigational clinical studies in patients with moderate to severe heart failure. A fully implanted electrohydraulic counterpulsation system utilizing the same Cuff design and incorporating both transcuta- neous energy transfer (TET) and a defibrillator has been developed.
Methods: Following engineering analysis and cadaver fit studies, two electro- hydraulic pumps were constructed; single liquid and dual liquid designs, both using the same motor mechanism. The pump sits in the right pleural space and is coupled to an extra-aortic inflatable Cuff via a short, wide lumen. The internal controller has an attached internal TET coil, and also receives an IS-1 cable from an implantable CRT-D pulse generator. The CRT-D and internal controller can be programmed remotely. Integrated system testing was completed on the bench and verified in an acute preclinical study.
Results: Bench testing demonstrated the systems provided 1:1 counterpulsation at nominal physiological conditions (HR 80 bpm, MAP 90 mmHg, Cuff displace- ment 14 cc per beat). These results correlated with preclinical testing in a calf model; (HR 80-100 bpm paced and unpaced, MAP 70-100 mmHg, Cuff displace- ment 14 cc per beat). The counterpulsation effect was optimized in 1:2 mode and measurements made in 1:1 mode (Fig 1). The measured motor power was 2.7-3.9W. There was no significant temperature gradient measured at either the pump or internal coil versus surrounding tissues.
Conclusions: A fully implanted counterpulsation system is technically feasible, with low power usage and no requirement for an implanted battery. Furthermore, the system can be coupled with brady-tachy pacemaker technology, allowing for a novel, synergistic electrical–mechanical cardiac assist system.

Low Power, coupled with pacemaker/ defibrillator.
Looks like we are set to be disruptive in the electrical cardiac assist market.

http://europace.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/5/482.full
Brady-tachy syndrome:
Rapid atrial pacing efficacy in preventing atrial fibrillation recurrence assessed by reliable electrograms: the prefib pilot study