MINNEAPOLIS & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today announced that the landmark RAFT (Resynchronization/Defibrillation for Ambulatory Heart Failure Trial) clinical trial shows Medtronic cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-Ds) significantly reduced mortality for mildly symptomatic heart failure patients (NYHA Class II) by 29 percent when compared to patients treated with guideline-recommended implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and medical therapy. The RAFT data also demonstrated a significant reduction (27 percent) in combined mortality and heart failure hospitalizations for this population consistent with previously published studies. The use of Medtronic CRT devices for mildly symptomatic heart failure patients (NYHA Class II) is investigational and not an approved use in the United States. The findings from the RAFT clinical trial were released at the late-breaking clinical science session at the Scientific Sessions 2010, the annual congress of the American Heart Association in Chicago and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
