Sphere-9 Catheter Adverse Events: FDA MAUDE Data

MEDTRONIC, INC. · Cardiac Ablation Catheter for Atrial Flutter, Cardiac Ablation Catheter for Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiac Ablation Catheter (Pulsed Field/PFA) · First cleared Oct 2024 · 3 device variants grouped

Total Reports

780

Reports (30d)

98

Active Signals

5

Open Recalls

2

Monthly Report Volume
Event Type Breakdown

Most commonly reported problems

1

Steam Pop with Sphere Catheter

cardiac ablation, temperature, sphere catheter, radiofrequency, sphere

47

reports

2

Ventricular Tachycardia Induced During Ablation

ventricular, cardiac ablation, event cardiac, result event, radiofrequency

31

reports

3

Stroke Following High Temperature Error

stroke, cardiac ablation, acute, magnetic, result event

25

reports

4

Pericardial Effusion with Blood Pressure Drop

blood pressure, pericardial effusion, cardiac ablation, pericardial, result event

23

reports

5

Temperature Sensor Failure During Mapping

catheter replaced, cardiac ablation, temperature, error, cable

17

reports

6

Temperature Control Error on Catheter

sphere

12

reports

Problem groupings are generated by Claripulse from report narrative text. They summarize what reporters wrote, not adjudicated root cause.

Active safety signals

Disproportionate reportinghighVolume spikehighIncreasing trendcriticalDisproportionate reportinghighDisproportionate reportinghigh

FDA recalls for this device

Class II

Mar 11, 2026 · Open, Classified

ventricular fibrillation (VF) during radiofrequency (RF) therapy with the Medtronic Sphere-9 catheter in patients who have a Biotronik Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) or Biotronik Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy-Defibrillator (CRT-D) implanted. The observation is caused by an interaction between the Sphere-9 catheter current flow and a safety feature built into Biotronik ICDs and CRT Ds. Medtronic recommends physicians use increased caution when using the Sphere-9 catheter for RF ablation therapy in patients implanted with a Biotronik ICD/CRT-D system, and to ensure external defibrillation systems are readily available.

Class III

Mar 4, 2019 · Open, Classified

The firm issued an updated instructions for use to reduce the potential for phrenic nerve injury.

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Disclaimer: This system analyzes publicly available FDA MAUDE data. It does NOT provide medical advice. MAUDE data is de-identified. Do not attempt re-identification. Report counts may differ from the FDA's MAUDE search due to processing cadence and deduplication. Data is updated weekly.