Medtronic buys 3-D mapping device for the heart

Medtronic PLC, the Minnesota-run maker of heart devices, announced a deal valued at $93 million to buy an Ohio company that makes a disposable vest which can map the heart's electrical activity in 3-D.

Medtronic said it paid $75 million in cash to buy CardioInsight Technologies of Cleveland. The deal also includes the retirement of an outstanding loan from Medtronic and additional undisclosed financial terms that put the deal's total at $93 million.

"This investment aligns with our goal to deliver breakthrough technologies for patients who have atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias," Medtronic's atrial-fibrillation general manager Reggie Groves said in a news release Friday.

CardioInsight was spun out of Case Western Reserve University in 2006 to commercialize the Ecvue, a single-use vest filled with sensors that can precisely measure and map the bioelectrical activity that makes the heart beat.

Physicians use the minimally invasive treatment to diagnose electrical disorders that can cause heart-rhythm disorders like atrial fibrillation. The device has been used on more than 1,400 patients in Europe and in the U.S.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common of heart arrhythmia. It happens when the heart's upper chambers quiver instead of beating regularly, causing blood not to move effectively into the lower chambers. The American Heart Association says 2.7 million Americans have atrial fibrillation, and the condition is seen in about 20 percent of people who suffer strokes.

Revenue from the Ecvue will be included in Medtronic's cardiac rhythm division, and is not expected to have a material impact on annualized earnings. Last year the division recorded $5.2 billion in sales.

Joe Carlson • 612-673-4779

Twitter: @_JoeCarlson