Cameron Health was a medical device developer based in San Clemente, California, US. Cameron Health had its European office, Cameron Health BV, in Arnhem, The Netherlands. The privately held company's focus was on a new generation of minimally invasive implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) which they called a Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator (S-ICD). Cameron Health's approach avoided implanting transvenous leads into the heart, which had been the usual procedure for cardiac devices. Instead, the Cameron ICD was entirely implanted outside the thoracic wall.
In June 2012, Boston Scientific acquired Cameron Health for a total sum of $1.3 Billion, paid out incrementally as various revenue milestones were achieved.[1] As of, Boston Scientific still markets the S-ICD system.[2]
Reasons for a minimally invasive approach
Every ICD is designed to detect heart rhythms consistent with a catastrophic failure of the body's natural regulation of the heartbeat, which, untreated, could result in death. When an ICD detects a serious arrhythmia, it issues an electrical impulse to the heart muscle, of a magnitude sufficient to cause the heart to revert to a normal rhythm.