Medtronic Korea said on Thursday that it will target the domestic market in earnest after applying for insurance benefits for its Percept PC neurostimulator using its brain signal detection technology, BrainSense.
Percept PC is equipped with Medtronic's proprietary technology called BrainSense to provide electrical deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment to patients with neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease and essential tremors while capturing and recording patients' brain signals.
It is designed to be about 20 percent smaller and thinner than its existing DBS Activa PC. Also, it can be easily switched to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) mode as DBS patients require MRI scans but these magnetic implants often make MRI scans impossible.
Moreover, it is equipped with a smart battery that can predict battery life and can continuously receive the latest functions through wireless Internet-based software upgrades, said a Medtronic official.
Percept PC is the first DBS equipped with brain signal detection technology.
It won approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) in August 2022, following the acquisition of the European CE mark in January 2020 and the FDA approval in June 2020.
Treatment is carried out through the process of implanting a DBS -- consisting of a stimulator, an electrode line that transmits stimulation, and a connection line that connects the two under the skin --, and adjusting and managing the electrical stimulation setting value through a programmer.
Accordingly, physicians can perform precise personalized neurostimulation treatment by linking the collected brain signal data with behavior and experience data recorded by patients such as symptoms, side effects, and drug intake.
Professor Jang Jin-woo of Neurosurgery at Severance Hospital, who recently inserted Percept PC for the first time in Korea, said DBS has significantly improved the motor function of Parkinson's disease patients compared to drugs alone compared to past treatment decisions which had to be made based on clinician evaluation and patient-reported information alone.
"We are pleased to provide our next-generation Percept PC deep stimulation device to domestic patients," said Medtronic Korea’s senior marketing director Yoo Seung-rok.