Normally, when you hear someone complain about direct-to-consumer advertising, it has to do with prescription drugs. But the Senate Special Committee on Aging believes there are just as many troubling issues when it comes to DTC ads for medical devices. So a hearing is scheduled for Wedneday morning.

The committee’s chairman, Herb Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin, tells The New York Times he’s holding the hearing because he believes the FDA may have to increase scrutiny of device ads, much as it has done for drugs. “The medical device industry is just beginning to get into the game,” he says.

DTC ads on TV and on the Internet amounted to $193 million last year, a small fraction of spending on drug ads, according to TNS Media Intelligence, a consulting firm, the paper writes. But some experts maintain device advertising can have more of an impact on a patient’s well-being than a drug, because devices often require surgery to implant and may remain inside the body for years.

Medtronic, for instance, has a web site for its Infuse Bone Graft that says: “If you are anticipating spine surgery, print this page and take it to your doctor and ask if you are a potential candidate for INFUSE® Bone Graft.” (Look here or click on the image above to enlarge).

Last year, Johnson & Johnson’s Cordis unit was criticized for running DTC ads in a campaign, called “Life Wide Open.” Some docs think the idea of directly advertising stents, for instance, is inappropriate, reflecting an ongoing debate over whether stents are implanted too often in patients who may do better with other treatments (back story).