August 31, 2011 — A recent study revealed more than 1,000 cardiac arrest deaths over 15 years are connected to the failure of automated external defibrillators (AEDs); battery failure accounted for almost one-quarter of the failures. The study was published online last week in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Analysis of Automated External Defibrillator Device Failures Reported to the Food and Drug Administration").

August 30, 2011 – Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the best reperfusion therapy for patients presenting with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Researchers used the Western Denmark Heart Registry to describe the implementation of primary PCI in Denmark. Their study (including almost 10,000 patients) showed that a strategy with early diagnosis, based on electrocardiogram (ECG) recording in the ambulance and directing the patients straight to the catheterization laboratory in the primary PCI center, was associated with a lower mortality. The data was presented this week at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Paris.

August 29, 2011 — A German team has developed a completely new non-invasive method to identify heart failure. It consists of an "electronic nose" which could make the "smelling" of heart failure possible. The project was presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress 2011. “The early detection of chronic heart failure (CHF) through periodical screening facilitates early treatment application,” said investigator Vasileios Kechagias from the University Hospital Jena.

August 29, 2011 – BK Medical will showcase its innovative Flex Focus 700 ultrasound system and BK Power Pack at the 13th World Congress of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) in Vienna, Austria, Aug. 26-29, 2011.

Stroke patients who need emergency care should be taken to the nearest certified primary stroke center, which acts as a central point for stroke treatment, according to recommendations from the Brain Attack Coalition (BAC), a group representing medical, scientific, nonprofit and government leaders in the field of stroke. The recommendations, which reflect advances in stroke treatment over the past decade, are published online in the September issue of the journal Stroke.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released its “Strategic Plan for Regulatory Science,” a sweeping initiative to modernize the tools and methods that the agency uses to evaluate whether the products it regulates are effective and safe for consumers.