Medtronic brain device OK’d for new use

Medtronic Inc. said Thursday that it has received European regulatory approval to use its deep brain stimulation therapy to control seizures in some epilepsy patients.

The Fridley-based medical technology giant has developed an implantable, pacemaker-like device that delivers controlled electrical pulses to the part of the brain that involve seizures.

European approval, called CE Mark, was based on a 110-patient clinical trial that was conducted at 17 hospitals in the United States, none of them in Minnesota.

While the World Health Organization estimates that 50 million people suffer from epilepsy, Medtronic's recent European approval covers a small subset of adults who suffer from "partial-onset seizures" that affect only a certain part of the brain. These patients typically cannot control their seizures solely with drugs.