On October 15, 2007 Medtronic notified doctors and patients that it was removing its Sprint Fidelis defibrillator leads from the market. The company issued the recall after it received numerous reports of fractures in the Sprint Fidelis leads. A defibrillator lead is used to connect a defibrillator or a pacemaker to the heart, and any fracture in the lead can result in unnecessary shocks. The recall involved four specific model numbers: 6930, 6931, 6948, 6949. The leads were implanted in approximately 268,000 patients.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download