Interventional Cardiology

Argon Medical has announced the launch of a new Vena Cava filter. It claims the OptionELITE’s enhanced retention anchor pattern provides stability and reduced retrieval force while preventing migration and reducing the risk of penetration.

CardioKinetix’s Parachute ventricular partitioning device has had its CE mark extended to include a full range of sizes, opening up percutaneous ventricular restoration therapy to a wider range of patient anatomies.

Boston Scientific’s new President and CEO has plenty to think about as the company’s third quarter sales performance shows some of its divisions struggling. Newly acquired technologies give cause for optimism however.

German company Cardionovum GmbH has updated us with the news that its distribution network, covering 57 countries, is pressing ahead with the commercialisation of its Primus® paclitaxel-coated balloon based on preclinical and clinical support.

Boston Scientific is to acquire Rhythmia Medical, Inc. as it seeks to build its position in cardiac rhythm management. Rhythmia is a developer of mapping and navigation systems for cardiac ablation techniques and expects to have products in market next year.

Brilliant idea this. Use the principle behind your in car GPS to create the map of the internal organ, then fit your insertable device with sensors so you can locate it without repeat fluoroscopy. Real time navigation with reduced radiation exposure.

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for the Emerge™ Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) Balloon Dilatation Catheter and has begun marketing the device in the United States. The Emerge Catheter is a next-generation pre-dilatation balloon catheter designed specifically to offer exceptional deliverability for physicians to address challenging lesions in coronary arteries. Both the Monorail® and Over-The-Wire (OTW) options are available. The Emerge Catheter has been commercially available in CE Mark countries since earlier this year.
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Boston Scientific Corporation is to acquire BridgePoint Medical, Inc., developer of a proprietary, catheter-based system to treat coronary chronic total occlusions.

In a strikingly heartwarming example of humanity charities already exist to coordinate the distribution of usable, explanted pacemakers from deceased Americans to less fortunate people in the developing world. A new study suggests this is a safe and viable practice, although the manufacturers disagree, citing concerns over reprocessing practices.

Estech’s breakthrough technology for the first time combines the benefits of a bipolar clamp with the flexibility of an endoscopically guided probe with the capability of creating linear lesions anywhere on a beating heart. It’s for investigational use in AF ablation treatment in U.S right now.

UK regulatory authority the MHRA is very keen to ensure that all pertinent information on the management of the potential for externalised ICD leads, reaches the appropriate medical professional, so has issued a follow up device alert with updated guidance.

Research presented at last week’s ESC suggests Heartlight may deliver more durable PV isolation vs Cryoballoon ablation.

St.Jude has taken the radical decision to shoe-horn its previous four divisions into two. These will be called the Implantable Electronic Systems Division (IESD), which will encompass CRM and Neuromodulation, and the Cardiovascular and Ablation Technologies Division (CATD), which will encompass Atrial Fibrillation and Cardiovascular. 300 job cuts and a host of efficiency savings are anticipated.

Boston Scientific’s Watchman LAA closure device can now be used on patients not able to be given anticoagulant therapy. Also, newly revised European Society of Cardiology guidelines include LAA closure devices.

Registry data presented at ESC suggests MitraClip use is gathering pace, at least for the oldest and sickest patients for whom it is providing an alternative to surgical valve repair.

Maquet Cardiovascular has issued a press release pointing us to the publication at ESC of clinical data which says its intra-aortic counterpulsating balloon shows observable 30 day reduction in mortality. The study size dictated that a 12% reduction was required in order to demonstrate significance, a target which was not reached.