Neuromodulation

Leading the way

In the 1970s Medtronic’s research teams pioneered the development and application of neuromodulation techniques.

Neuromodulation is the targeted and regulated delivery of electrical pulses, pharmaceuticals and biologics to specific sites in the nervous system.

Today, our Neuromodulation business leads the way in implantable neurostimulation and drug delivery systems.

These techniques help manage:

• Movement disorders (including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and dystonia)
• Chronic pain
• Spasticity
• Overactive bladder and urinary retention
• Faecal incontinence
• Benign prostatic hyperplasia
• Gastroparesis

Deep Brain Stimulation

An innovative and proven technology that significantly improves motor function and reduces disability in patients suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and dystonia. These therapies use an implanted neurostimulation system to stimulate targeted nuclei in the brain to reduce symptoms associated with these movement disorders. After the implant is in place, stimulation can be non-invasively adjusted to meet each patient's needs.

Pain management therapies

Neurostimulation and Intrathecal Drug Delivery can be effective options for patients with chronic pain who are experiencing inadequate pain relief or uncomfortable side effects from their current pain treatments.

Spasticity

Intrathecal Baclofen (ITB) Therapy eases intractable severe non-focal spasticity in patients with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and stroke by delivering an injectable liquid form of baclofen directly into the intrathecal space in small, precisely controlled doses using a pump and catheter that is surgically placed just beneath the skin in the body.

Neurostimulation for bladder control and for bowel control

This is the first implantable treatment to use electrical stimulation of the sacral nerves to manage urinary urge incontinence, urgency frequency and urinary retention. It is also used to manage faecal incontinence and constipation.

The therapy can improve the quality of life for many of the millions of people who suffer from the embarrassing and confining effects of incontinence.

Gastric neurostimulation therapy

Treats chronic nausea and vomiting associated with gastroparesis when conventional drug therapies are not effective. Gastroparesis is a stomach disorder in which food moves through the stomach more slowly than normal. In some patients, this condition results in severe, chronic nausea and vomiting, which cannot be adequately controlled by available drugs. These patients have difficulty eating and may require some form of tube feeding to ensure adequate nutrition.

Gastric neurostimulation therapy uses mild electrical pulses to stimulate the stomach. This electrical stimulation helps control the symptoms associated with gastroparesis including nausea and vomiting.

Enlarged prostate therapy

This is a minimally invasive treatment option for men over 50 suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or enlarged prostate. It is an effective, safe and fast treatment that is associated with few side affects and adverse events.

Adjustable continence therapy to treat stress
urinary incontinence in women

Incontinence is managed with post-operatively adjustable implants placed bilaterally in a periurethral position at the bladder neck, to maintain uniform coaptation and normal bladder control.

...and men

A post-operatively adjustable treatment  for stress incontinence that may be caused either by a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles or a loss of control of the sphincter muscle that controls the opening of the bladder.

Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT)

ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) and Neurologic Technologies

Medtronic ENT

Delivers innovative technologies and instrumentation used to treat people with diseases of the ear, nose and throat (ENT).

Medtronic Neurosurgery

Provides superior products for the Cranial Neurosurgery market. These products include:

• A wide variety of silicone elastomer valves, catheters and shunts for hydrocephalus management. Hydrocephalus is a condition where patients have an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the ventricles of the brain. Treatment for hydrocephalus is carried out by implanting a shunt to drain the excess CSF from the brain to another area of the body, which helps to relieve the patient’s symptoms.
• Hydrocephalus can be a congenital condition (present from birth); or can develop as a result of trauma, a brain tumour, scar tissue formation, or meningitis.
• Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) is a neurological condition that affects the elderly. It is characterized by a triad of symptoms – difficulty walking, poor bladder control, and mild dementia. NPH is a difficult-to-diagnose disease, since the symptoms often mimic those of other conditions among the elderly — Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Some patients experience a mild form of the symptoms, while others become more impaired as the condition progresses. NPH can also be treated with a shunt.
• External drainage products for the treatment of traumatic brain injury and invasive monitoring
• Neuroendoscopes for performing a variety intracranial procedures
• Cranial closure products for quick and secure reattachment of skull flaps

Medtronic Powered Surgical Solutions

A leading developer and supplier of systems that provide procedural solutions for high speed bone dissection.

Neuromodulation