Events

Field Safety Notices about HeartMate 3

According to Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of the Republic of Slovenia (via FOI), this field safety notices involved a device in Slovenia that was produced by Abbott.

What is this?

Field safety notices are communications sent out by medical device manufacturers or their representatives in relation to actions that they may be taking in relation to their product that is on the market. These are mainly for health workers, but also for users. They can include recalls and alerts.

Learn more about the data here
  • Type of Event
    Field Safety Notice
  • Date
    2017-06-07
  • Event Country
    Slovenia
  • Event Source
    AMPMDRS
  • Notes / Alerts
    Data from Slovenia is current through February 2019. All of the data comes from the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices of the Republic of Slovenia (via FOI), except for the categories Manufacturer Parent Company and Product Classification.
    The Parent Company and the Product Classification were added by ICIJ.
    The parent company information is based on 2017 public records. The device classification information comes from FDA’s Product Classification by Review Panel, based on matches of recall data from the U.S. and Slovenia.
  • Extra notes in the data
  • Reason
    Abbott wishes to inform you of a limited number of communication error messages between the system controller and the pump on the heartmate 3 system for mechanical stimulation of left ventricular function (lvas). to date, this fact has not had a negative impact on patients. however, advisory alarms are often triggered, which must be silenced.   we have determined that there is a likelihood of communication failure between the patient's system controller and the lvas pump, which triggers an advisory alarm that indicates a communication error with the system controller. the problem is due to differences in production from one of the suppliers, which can cause crystallization, which in turn may interfere with communication between the pump and the system controller. abbott has updated production specifications and procedures to prevent this problem from recurring in the future for heartmate 3 devices.  .

Device

HeartMate 3
  • Model / Serial
  • Manufacturer
    Abbott

Manufacturer

Abbott
  • Manufacturer Parent Company (2017)
    Abbott Laboratories
  • Manufacturer comment
    “We are in constant communication with regulatory agencies and competent authorities worldwide which allows us to implement global recalls or in-country communication quickly and effectively,” Abbott, which now owns St. Jude Medical told ICIJ in a statement. In addition to sending global notices to physicians worldwide, we also make sure that product advisories are available online and classification of product recalls and product advisories are determined by global regulatory bodies which can impact the timing in any given country. MD companies follow varying regulations in different countries. In come countries software is not regulated so a recall in one country related to software would not be classified as a recall or field action in another. In addition, review cycles within the regulatory process can be different in each country which can impact communication and recall timing.
  • Source
    AMPMDRS