Cardio

Another fascinating study shows a positive effect of stem cell infusion in post-infarct patients when compared with standard of care control group.

We’ve had to add a new tag… Alliances… because we don;t think this will be the last. St.Jude and Abbott’s “Choice Alliance” means they can both offer fuller bags in US contracts. Wonder how they’ll sort out the head to heads… I got there first. No I got there first.

Regulatory approval is one step closer with Boston Scientific’s announcement that its REPRISE I Clinical trial of the Lotus TAVR system has completed enrollment.

Coating devices with a hydrophilic polymer can make it easier to insert into the body. German vascular company Jotec GmbH has entered into an agreement with Hydromer Inc. to use its coating solution.

Some really informative items have been floating around this week. It’s especially noteworthy that Thoratec’s Heartmate II® Ventricular Assist Device has seen its 10,000th patient. It’s a sobering thought that many of these patients would not have had a chance without the technology.

Given the furore, it’s no surprise that St.Jude’s Cardiac Rhythm Management sales dipped in Q1 2012. While overall company sales grew, the net effect on the bottom line was a reduction from $233M to $212M compared with the equivalent quarter a year ago.

Turmeric is supposed to be good for us, but now its beginning to look like a wonder spice as researchers suggest it can reduce post cardiac surgical incidence of heart attack in a placebo study.

When is a published paper a thinly disguised marketing study? One man clearly has a view.

With over 10,000 implants of its life-giving heart support unit, Thoratec is right to be proud of what is one of medical device industry’s finest contributions.

The first patient has been implanted with St.Jude’s Accent MRI® Pacemaker in a study to determine whether the device will be compatible with full body MRI scans once in situ.

St.Jude is making a big deal of the fact that it sought guidance from 200 physicians on the design of its newly CE marked Ellipse ICD device.

Bioabsorbable stents are back in the news with the publication of ten year data from Japan claiming safety at ten years in a 50 patient study.

We need a Pacemaker Peacemaker if we’re to see an end to the ICD “troubles” don’t we? Still, if you can look past the week’s big spat there’s still plenty of positive (and a bit of negative) news from the medical devices world.

Sounds like a simple idea cleverly executed, which makes University of Limerick researcher Dr Michael Walsh’s claims that this new balloon angioplasty device may advance the technique sound reasonable.

Impella cVAD from Abiomed looks like a great tool for the cardiologist faced with the need to provide short term haemodynamic support for cardiac patients, with the advantage that insertion is percutaneous.

Boston Scientific has trumpeted the CE mark approval of its INGENIO™ and ADVANTIO™ pacemakers and INVIVE™ cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers.