Geoff Martha
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Medtronic
Hello everyone and thanks for tuning in today. Our momentum is building as we keep executing on our commitments, delivering yet another quarter of strong results that came in ahead of expectations and another guidance raise. This makes it eight quarters in a row now of solid mid-single-digit organic revenue growth. And we translated that 5% organic top line growth into 8% EPS growth on a constant currency basis, and we remain on track to deliver high-single-digit EPS growth on a reported basis in the back half of the -- of the fiscal year.
We know that innovation matters and -- and innovation is -- is what really is driving our growth today across multiple areas. We're seeing strong performance from franchises like TAVR, PFA, Leadless Pacemakers, Diabetes, Spine and Neuromodulation, just to name a few. And we're confident that this diversified growth will keep going, especially with the strength of our pipeline in high impact markets like hypertension, which is a big exciting opportunity for us.
If you look at our recent performance, it's clear the foundation of the company is much stronger. We've integrated a real performance mindset alongside our mission driven culture and it's making a difference. And as we continue to drive durable top line growth, use our scale to deliver leveraged earnings, generate strong free cash flow, pursue smart tuck-in M&A and grow our dividend, we're setting ourselves up to create strong long-term returns for our shareholders.
Now let's turn to the details of our Q2 business results and discuss our performance. Looking first at our highest growth businesses, combined, they grew 8% again this quarter and made up 20% of our revenue. Starting with Structural Heart, we grew high-single-digits on the strength of our TAVR franchise. In the US, we launched Evolut FX+ and we're seeing strong customer adoption.
We also received CE Mark for FX+ last month and began commercializing in Europe last week. FX+ is important not only for the lifetime management benefit it offers, but also because it -- it creates an additional opportunity for us to reiterate our positive SMART Trial results. Now, you recall that SMART demonstrated our superior valve performance in small annulus patients who are primarily women and they make up about 40% of the TAVR segment. With this comb -- combination of FX+, low risk data and now smart data, we expect to continue to grow at or above market in the quarters ahead.
Next, in cardiac ablation solutions, our technology is helping to drive the rapid shift of the market to pulse field ablation. We've been significantly expanding our manufacturing capacity to meet this growing demand and we're -- we're well positioned as the only company with both single shot and focal PFA catheters. We continue to drive our growth of our PulseSelect PFA single shot catheter. This is offsetting cryoablation declines and our rate of cryo sequential decline significantly improved versus what we saw in Q1.
With PFA this quarter, we nearly doubled the number of physicians using PulseSelect and we more than doubled the total number of patients treated with this catheter in Q2. That said, our overall cash growth did not accelerate as expected this quarter due to a third party component supplier interruption. They've now expanded capacity, allowing us to continue to ramp PulseSelect availability and activate new accounts.
On top of PulseSelect, we were pleased to receive FDA approval late last month for our Affera Mapping and Ablation System and Sphere-9 focal catheter. This all in one catheter was designed from the ground up to perform high density mapping as well as pulse field and RF ablations. Sphere-9 replaces competitors mapping and RF catheters, allowing us to increase our revenue per case. We're ramping commercial availability now, having already entered some of the top US centers by volume, and this will accelerate over the coming weeks and quarters to meet the significant demand.
And we continue to rapidly hire mapping specialists in advance of entering new centers, giving us confidence in our ability to accelerate account activations. With the strong customer response to the breadth of our new PFA portfolio, we expect our overall cash growth rate to accelerate through the back half of the fiscal year, including strong double-digit growth in Q3. And we expect to reach and then exceed market growth in this large and fast growing $9 billion cardiac ablation space.
Next, in surgical robotics, we continue to invest in our Hugo platform, building a strong foundation for future growth. In the US, we've completed capturing the necessary data for our urology submission and expect to file with the FDA in the first quarter of calendar '25. We're also seeing fast enrollment in our next two US syndication studies, hernia and gynecology.
In digital, we commenced commercial rollout of our Touch Surgery Live Stream remote connectivity solution across the US and Western Europe, as we continue to digitize operating rooms globally. And we're making progress bringing our advanced surgical technologies to Hugo. We expect ICG fluorescent imaging to be available in certain countries soon, followed by adding our market leading LigaSure vessel sealing technology to Hugo next calendar year.
Next, in diabetes, we delivered another quarter of double-digit growth, growing 11% despite more difficult comparisons from the 780G US launch last year. Our CGM sales grew over 20% in both the US and international markets, driven by the high CGM attachment rates to the 780G. In addition, our Simplera Sync sensor, which is half the size and much easier to apply than our previous sensor is gaining strong acceptance in international markets.
On the Smart MDI front, we just secured FDA clearance for our InPen app, which paves the way for a limited US release of our Smart MDI system with our Simplera CGM. So we continue to add new patients with the 780G system. The majority are coming from MDI, and we're also seeing success from our competitive switch programs. Patients are attracted to 780G's highest time and range of any commercial AID system and achieving this control with less burden.
In the dQ&A survey of over 1,500 AID users in the US, the 780G had the highest user satisfaction of any AID system, including scoring 20 percentage points higher than the Tandem Dexcom combination and 25 points higher than the Insulet Dexcom combination. We're investing heavily in diabetes to expand manufacturing capacity and advance our robust technology pipeline, including our partnership with Abbott on a -- in an integrated sensor. These activities support our strategy to be number one in the fast growing AID and smart MDI space with a technology ecosystem that is focused on achieving better control with less burden.
Now, turning to hypertension and the large future growth opportunity of our Symplicity blood pressure procedure. With a proven track record of long-term efficacy and safety and unique design, this innovative solution is poised to -- to transform hypertension management. We're pleased that CMS earlier this month finalized the outpatient transitional pass through payment, which will take effect on January 1. With coding and sufficient Medicare payment now in place, the key step for broader adoption is to establish standardized coverage. On this front, we continue to engage with CMS to facilitate access for patients to this important therapy. And we're working with private payers to advance coverage as well.
Hypertension is a global health challenge and the leading cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide. In fact, it impacts more than 1 billion people globally, including nearly half of all US adults. Despite the availability of numerous medications, only one in four adults with hypertension in the US have it under control. And the direct cost to the US healthcare system for hypertension are massive, somewhere between $100 billion and $200 billion a year. So our Symplicity procedure can play a very important role in cost effectively improving public health.
Now, looking at our established market leaders. Combined, they made up nearly half of our revenue and grew mid-single-digits. In many cases, we've innovated on the technology and business models to reinvent these businesses over the past few years, and we continue to invest in them to ensure durable growth. They are a key part of our financial model, helping us to consistently deliver on the top line and they contribute a disproportionate amount of profit and cash flow.
In Cranial and Spinal Technologies, we grew 6% worldwide, including 7% growth in US core spine and biologics. In a market that rewards scale, we're continuing to win. This is driven by our leading AiBLE ecosystem of differentiated spine implants and enabling technologies, including AI-driven pre-op planning software, imaging, robotics, navigation and powered surgical instruments. Our large global AiBLE installed base is changing the competitive dynamics in spine. And we continue to expand its features and its capabilities.
At the NASS conference in September, we announced a new partnership with Siemens Healthineers to co-market and integrate their imaging technologies for spine care. We expect CST to continue to deliver sustained above market growth with AiBLE and its differentiated best-in-class solutions attracting not only spine surgeons around the world, but also the best sales reps and distributors who continue to leave the competition to join our winning team.
Next, in Surgical, we had flat results. As I mentioned last quarter, we had difficult year-over-year comparisons given the supply recovery last year as well as the Korean market slowdown from the ongoing physician strikes. It's worth noting that on a sequential basis, Surgical had strong high-single-digit growth both globally and in the US. We had outsized strength in Advanced Energy, driven by accelerated adoption of our LigaSure XP Maryland vessel sealer. Overall, we continue to expect Surgical to return to more normalized growth starting next quarter as these comparisons ease.
In Cardiac Rhythm Management, we had another strong quarter, growing in the mid-single-digits, including high-single-digit growth in both Defibrillation Solutions and Cardiac Pacing Therapies. Our Micra Leadless Pacemaker franchise grew high teens with broad strength around the world.
Now, turning to our synergistic businesses, which collectively grew mid-single-digits and represented over 30% of our revenue. The highlight again this quarter was neuromodulation, where growth accelerated to 12% and the business continues to grow well above the market. We're seeing broad based growth across product lines, including Pain Stim and Brain Modulation.
In Pain Stim, we grew 10%, including 12% growth in the US on the continued launch of the Inceptiv closed-loop spinal cord stimulator. The innovation in Inceptiv is transforming the treatment of chronic pain for patients. It automatically keeps therapy at the optimal dose and allows patients to focus on everyday life, not on managing their chronic pain. In addition, it has the best full-body MRI conditional access on the market and the competition really isn't even close. This is important given that over 80% of these patients need an MRI within five years and nearly all of them need one within 10 years.
In Brain Modulation, growth accelerated to 17%, the third quarter in a row of double-digit growth. This innovation driven growth is built on the ongoing launch of our Percept RC with BrainSense technology. Percept is having a huge impact for patients with movement disorders like Parkinson's, essential tremor, dystonia and epilepsy. It not only delivers therapy to specific brain targets, but it is the only DBS system that captures and records brain signals. Now, this equips physicians with valuable data and the insights needed to personalize the therapy. And just like in Pain Stim, our DBS devices have differentiated MRI advantages versus the competition.
In addition to Neuromod, we also had strong performances in other synergistic businesses. Cardiac surgery grew 10% with the broad strength coming from innovative products like our Avalus Ultra surgical valve, Penditure LAA exclusion system and VitalFlow ECMO System. Acute Care & Monitoring grew 3%, including 9% in Nellcor pulse oximetry. And Pelvic Health accelerated its growth to 5%.
Now with that, let's go to Gary, who will give you a deeper look at our Q2 financial performances and our outlook. Gary, over to you.
