U.S. Markets for Neurostimulation Products

As far back as the late 1700s, scientists demonstrated that they could make muscles twitch by applying shocks from static-electricity generators. By the 1930s, as engineers perfected how to control the frequency and flow of electricity, scientists were experimenting with battery-powered pacemakers to pulse the heart. In 1960, electrical engineer Wilson Greatbatch patented the first successful implantable pacemaker. Finally, in the mid-1990s, the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began approving pacemaker-like devices for uses outside the heart.