The key take away messages from the 26th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium were bioresorable stents and transcatheter valve technologies will likely become primary interventional tools in the near future.

The American College of Cardiology announced 35 selected hospitals that are pioneering a team approach to keep patients healthy and at home following admission for heart attack or heart failure. The hospitals from across the country are the first participants in the ACC Patient Navigator Program, which is the first program of its kind in cardiology and supports national efforts to reduce unnecessary patient readmissions.

Cardiovascular Systems Inc. announced that the first seven patients in Japan have been enrolled in its Coronary Orbital Atherectomy System Trial (COAST) study. Taking place in the United States and Japan, the study is designed to assess the safety and efficacy, as well as economic outcomes, of CSI’s new micro crown Orbital Atherectomy System (OAS) in treating severely calcified coronary lesions in patients suffering from coronary artery disease (CAD). Shigeru Saito, M.D., director of cardiology and catheterization laboratories, Shonan Kamakura General Hospital, Kamakura, Japan, performed the procedures on Oct. 27.

Restenosis, the recurrence of narrowing of the arteries after stenting, is a common risk of this endovascular treatment. There are no well-defined guidelines to treat restenosis, but recent studies have shown excellent results with drug-eluting balloon angioplasty in coronary and femoral artery stents. However, few studies have focused on the carotid arteries, which take blood to the neck and head.

If Marvel’s Captain America can lay still during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam, so can kids. That’s the message of a special comic book designed to ease children’s fears before they undergo a scan, which requires them to lay still in a narrow, loud machine in order for it to produce clear images. The new Marvel Custom Solutions comic book is included in an “MRI Heroes Kit” developed by Siemens Healthcare and Marvel Custom Solutions in collaboration with Weill Cornell Imaging at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medical College. The kit is designed to empower young patients by educating them about the procedure in a gentle and compelling way.