Clinical/Educational

After studying data relating to 3404 hips enrolled in 18 comparative studies and over 830 000 operations in national registries, researchers showed only limited evidence of comparative effectiveness of various hip implant bearing combinations.

Californian Stapler Company Cardica has suspended enrollment in its European clinical trial of the MicroCutter XPRESS 30 due to a small subset of deployments where the XPRESS 30 did not perform satisfactorily in thicker tissue.

Results from the St Jude sponsored ASSERT study has found that pacemaker patients who have no history of atrial tachycardia (AT) or AF, but do have device-detected arrhythmias, are approximately 2.5 times more likely to have a stroke than patients who do not have device-detected arrhythmias.

Results from “high-surgical-risk” study arm of MitraClip EVEREST II trial suggest the device does provide limited reduction in mitral regurgitation in patients for whom surgery is not an option.

Sphincter specialist Torax Medical Inc. has taken a significant step towards FDA approval for its Linx device, designed for treatment of Gastro-Oesophageal-Reflux Disease by gaining the unanimous support of FDA’s 9 member advisory panel.

C. R. Bard, Inc’s acquisition of Lutonix, Inc will position it well to be the first company to gain FDA clearance for a drug coated PTA balloon in what is estimated could be a $1Bn market.

It’s that time of year again as Arab Health prepares for its 37th running in two weeks time.

Heartwire (theheart.org) has reported on a study summarising “real-world” experiences with AF Ablation and found patient factors and hospital procedure volume to be determinants of post-operative complications and rehospitalisation.

Commercial production of a new device that measures melanoma using photoacoustics, or laser-induced ultrasound, will soon be available to scientists and academia for cancer studies.

The 2012 International Medical Device Industry Compliance conference will take place in May at the Sheraton Stockholm Hotel, and will feature an illustrious list of guest speakers, no free pens and “buy your own” drinks.

Dutch Haemostasis and Regenerative Medicine company ProFibrix B.V., has announced that its U.S. multicenter Phase II clinical trial with Fibrocaps in spinal, peripheral vascular and general surgery resulted in a highly statistically significant reduction in mean time to haemostasis and incidence of haemostasis at 3, 5 and 10 minutes, as compared to active control.

St. Jude Medical, Inc. has announced that it has met a stopping rule in its RESPECT clinical trial and is closing patient enrollment. The company expects to present its findings during 2012.

First large-scale pacemaker study shows significant reduction in hospitalisations for atrial arrhythmias and related stroke with BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring®

Northwestern University has issued a press release about recent work published in December in Science relating to the formation of graphitic carbon, which has been identified as a naturally forming lubricant in metal-on-metal bearing surfaces in hip prostheses.

AngioDynamics has completed patient enrollment in its European prospective NanoKnife® System trial for the treatment of locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Exactech Inc., has announced the initiation of a prospective, randomized, multi-center, clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a new cartilage repair technology.