How Mechanical Circulatory Support follows the “purest sense” of Medtronic’s patient care mission

Unlike other businesses at Medtronic, the Mechanical Circulatory Support group isn’t measured by the number of new patients receiving medical devices. Instead, MCS is charged with caring for the nearly 3,000 patients who have already been implanted with Medtronic’s Heartware Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD.) In 2021, Medtronic stopped distributing the HVADs following studies that showed recipients had a higher risk of suffering strokes than those who were implanted with another company’s VAD. But Medtronic’s mission didn’t end with the suspension. In this episode, Raj Thomas, vice president and general manager of MCS, explains how his team continues to support recipients, their caregivers and clinicians to help ensure those heart failure patients can live the fullest lives possible. Thomas details MCS’s steps toward providing support including the organization of a global meeting and the establishment of a patient advisory board.

Thank you to Resonant Link for sponsoring this episode.