Cardio

Renal Denervation is probably the biggest buzzphrase in new therapies right now, given the size of the problem it purports to address. Medtronic has seen more promising data published at ESC, suggesting patients treated with its Symplicity™ system benefit from sustained and meaningful BP reduction at 18 months

Medtronic’s Arctic Front Advance™ Cryoablation System now delivers cold therapy to a larger area more evenly, the company claiming that this will aid cardiologists in delivering cardiac ablation therapy.

When your product appears as a headline in a prominent U.S. consumer vehicle, best make hay while the sun shines. SynCardia certainly thinks so as it issues a press release about its coverage in U.S News and World Reports.

Compared with a bare-metal stent, the use of a stent with a biodegradable polymer that releases the drug biolimus resulted in a lower rate of major adverse cardiac events at 1 year among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention according to a study in the August 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Following promising early clinical data CardioFocus has announced that its technology will be highlighted in two presentations during the forthcoming European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich.

Before we saw the numbers we were backing the line that it would be stents up, pacing and spine down, and so it came to pass. Medtronic’s numbers show the importance of emerging markets and contributions from its newly acquired businesses as the company posts 5% revenue gains.

Medtronic has announced CE mark approval for two new CRT devices which automatically adapt to patients’ electrical rhythms, improving response to life-saving therapy.

Abbott has announced that the XIENCE Xpedition™ Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System has gained CE Mark approval for the treatment of coronary artery disease. The company is launching the product immediately in CE Mark countries.

It’s a right old game isn’t it? Issue a press release when the study’s announced, another when enrollment’s complete, another suggesting the results are good (this one) and finally another when the results are published in October. And what does a “positive outcome” suggest? No worse? Marginally better? Much better? Stupendously better? Whatever, it’s a fine example of squeezing the PR pips out of a clinical study.

Presumably with its strong focus on peripheral vascular surgery, Vascular Solutions sees more potential than St.Jude does for this steerable guidewire catheter… enough to pay $3M for residual inventory and rights.

Are the summer doldrums a good time to bury bad news or an opportunity to get your story to the top of the editor’s “hmmm interesting” list? We ponder this and other matters in our weekly View From The Med.

FDA has issued updated guidance on the clinical management of problematic Riata and Riata ST ICD leads. We take a considered look at how patients must be feeling and how well they’re getting looked after through this whole stressful experience.

A unique algorithm in Biotronik’s Lumax 740 ICD differentiates atrial from ventricular arrhythmias to avoid risk for potential long-term medical consequences of painful and inappropriate shocks.

Medtronic’s CareLink Express monitor, compatible with almost all Medtronic ICDs, CRT devices, ICMs and pacemakers, “interrogates” implanted Medtronic cardiac devices. In so doing it shortcuts repeated tests and the need for on site specialists, in so doing reducing delays and increasing efficiency…. at least for Medtronic implantees.

SynCardia Systems, Inc., manufacturer of the world’s first and only FDA, Health Canada and CE approved Total Artificial Heart, has announced revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, marking the company’s best quarter to date and its fifth consecutive profitable quarter.

A new study published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), concludes that survival using the Berlin Heart’s EXCOR® Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) as a “bridging therapy” for children in need of a heart transplant is “significantly greater” than the standard-of-care ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).