Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) announced today that the first procedure using the Visualase(TM) MRI-Guided Laser Ablation System has been performed in the pivotal SLATE (Stereotactic Laser Ablation for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) clinical trial at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. The SLATE clinical trial is designed to support the expanded indication of the currently marketed Visualase(TM) system for treatment of patients with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), the most common form of partial or localization-related epilepsy.
“We’re excited about this important milestone and look forward to continued recruitment in this study – which will determine the utility of the technology as a surgical treatment for patients with drug-resistant MTLE,” said Co-Principal Investigator Michael Sperling, M.D., professor of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University and director of the Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the Vickie and Jack Faber Institute for Neuroscience in Philadelphia, Pa.
