St. Jude Medical (Minneapolis, Minnesota) reported receiving FDA approval and European CE marking, as well as the first implant of its Atlas Plus implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which it said is the highest-output (36 joules delivered/42 joules stored) rate-adaptive device on the market. High-energy outputs are particularly helpful for patients who have life-threatening high or rising defibrillation thresholds, the company said.