Infraredx Inc. today announced that it has entered into an agreement with HealthTrust, a group purchasing organization. Under the agreement, HealthTrust will offer the Infraredx TVC Imaging System, a novel dual-modality intravascular imaging technology, to its member network of 1,400 acute care facilities.

Annie Henderson, 69, suffers from multiple chronic ailments, including kidney failure and mitral valve insufficiency. The latter turned her life into a battle for breath, eliminating almost all activities and even making sleep a struggle. She couldn’t sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time without waking in a fit of coughing. Thanks to a leading-edge procedure performed at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, Mrs. Henderson is now breathing – and sleeping – easy.

The quality and resolution of X-ray images depends on the characteristics of the focal point, the area that is struck by electrons and from which the resulting X-rays are emitted. A new ASTM International standard will allow users to determine the effective focal spot size of an X-ray source.

The use of stents has improved management and outcomes of coronary artery disease, and clinical trials are attempting to prove the same will be true for superficial femoral artery disease. Randomized trials have shown favorable results for self-expanding nitinol stents compared with balloon angioplasty. A new report seeks to test this treatment in a real-world population of patients enrolled in an observational registry.

Lombard Medical Inc., a medical device company focused on endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), today announced that its lead product, Aorfix, an endovascular stent graft to treat AAA, has received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Commercial sales will follow reimbursement approval. Aorfix will be exclusively distributed by Medico's Hirata Inc. Japan is the world’s second-largest standalone EVAR market.