St. Jude Medical said Tuesday it released an "MRI-conditional" pacemaker in India that can let patients with the implants undergo some full-body MRI scans.

The Accent MRI pacemaker with Tendril MRI lead has been tested to be "conditionally safe" for use with full-body scans on a 1.5-Tesla MRI, St. Jude said on its website. The device received the CE mark, meaning it can be sold in Europe, in April.

According to a product brochure, the device allows a maximum whole body averaged specific absorption rate of 4 watts per kilogram. It also features a hand-held device, called the SJM MRI Activator, that lets doctors program pre-approved MRI settings.
In general, patients with pacemakers are restricted from most MRI scans for fear of the MRI's powerful magnet interfering with the heart rhythm-correcting devices. But a new batch of pacemakers are making it possible for patients to get MRI scans under certain conditions.

Last February, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first MRI-compatible pacemaker for U.S. markets, the Revo MRI SureScan, made by St. Jude rival Medtronic Inc.

St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude estimates about 75 percent of patients with pacemakers could benefit from an MRI scan at some point in their lives.

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