W. L. Gore & Associates’ Gore Excluder Iliac Branch Endoprosthesis is a complete, fully engineered system intended for endovascular treatment of common iliac artery aneurysms or aortoiliac aneurysms. It received CE marking. The first patient procedures in Europe were successfully completed by vascular surgeons Piergiorgio Cao, M.D., chief of vascular surgery at San Camillo Hospital, Rome, Italy, Mo Hamady, M.D., consultant interventional radiologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, and Michael Jenkins, consultant vascular surgeon and clinical lead at St. Mary’s Hospital, London.

Biotronik announced the first implantations of the Sentus ProMRI lead. Biotronik’s bipolar cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) lead is the first MR conditional lead with a 4 French diameter — approximately 1.6 mm. An ultra-thin lead, it enables access to particularly challenging vessels and offers expanded pacing options. In addition, the Sentus leads are allow patients to undergo MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans. The CRT lead received CE marking in early February.

Blanchard Valley Health System is a non-profit, integrated health system with more than 2,000 associates serving eight counties in Ohio. It selected Merge Healthcare Inc. for its enterprise-wide vendor-neutral archive (VNA), interoperability and cardiology solutions to meet Meaningful Use 2 (MU2) requirements for the exchange of images.

Vital Images Inc., a Toshiba Medical Systems Group Company, is expanding in the EMEA market with an increasing number of organizations migrating to Vital's VitreaAdvanced solution to help improve efficiency, communication and patient care. The VitreaAdvanced advanced visualization solution provides 2-D, 3-D and 4-D images for applications addressing cardiovascular, neurovascular and oncology disease states. Fueled by intelligent automation, it utilizes a clinical workflow to improve speed and simplicity of use.

Advanced Accelerator Applications, an international specialist in molecular nuclear medicine (MNM), announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Imaging Equipment Ltd., a privately held U.K. distributor of nuclear medicine products and technologies.

At HIMSS14, Microsoft Corp. showcased a range of health organizations, including Epic and AirStrip, that have improved care team collaboration and productivity, expanded mobility and enhanced patient care through Windows 8.1 devices and apps, and Windows Embedded solutions. With the Windows 8.1 platform of clinical-grade devices, apps and services, including Microsoft Surface, mobile care teams can: communicate with each other via a variety of methods; gain access to full-function EMRs from anywhere at any time; and use U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -cleared clinician apps to deliver mobile-based care and guidance.