Medical device maker Boston Scientific of Natick said its Vitality DR implantable heart defribillator has been approved for market in Japan.
The company said Vitality DR is the smallest dual chamber implantable defribillator currently available in Japan.
Implantable defribillators are designed to shock the heart out of abnormal and potentially fatal rhythms.
More than 100,000 of the company’s implantable defribillators have been implanted in patients around the world since the company first introduced the product in Europe in 2002.
Boston Scientific estimated that sudden cardiac death claims as many as 50,000 in Japan every year.