Cardiac surgeons and cardiologists at the University of Maryland Heart Center are part of a multi-center clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of powering heart pumps through a skull-based connector behind the ear. Typically, these devices for patients with severe heart failure are energized through an electrical cord connected at an abdominal site.

Cook Medical is again shipping its Zilver PTX drug-eluting peripheral stent to medical centers in the United States, Japan, Europe and other major markets. The shipments follow a brief period of unavailability due to a voluntary recall by Cook related to an issue with the stent’s delivery catheter that has been resolved.

Aplio 500 received top ranking in the Ultrasound – General Imaging category in the 2013 Best in KLAS Awards: Medical Equipment & Infrastructure.

Former President George W. Bush underwent heart surgery on the morning of Aug. 6, 2013, to receive a stent after an artery blockage was discovered during his annual physical. The routine physical included a stress test and an electrocardiogram. Abnormal results from the stress test prompted the former president to receive a computed tomography (CT) angiogram, and the surgery successfully took place one day after the blockage was discovered.

Colibri Heart Valve LLC announced that enrollment its first-in-human feasibility study is continuing, and early clinical results from the second implantation of the Colibri device confirm the positive clinical findings observed in its first use. The Colibri transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system is the first low profile, 14 French, pre-mounted, pre-crimped, and pre-packaged, ready-for-use TAVI system.

The William Stamps Farish Fund in Houston has donated $400,000 to a collaboration between the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES) at The University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Heart Institute (THI) to study life-threatening vulnerable plaques, the cause of at least two-thirds of all heart attacks, and new ways to prevent them.

Positron Corporation entered into a multi-year radioisotope supply agreement with iThemba LABS of Cape Town, South Africa. The supply agreement contracts the procurement of raw material, strontium-82 (Sr-82) from iThemba LABS for further production of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) at Positron's radioisotope production facility in Lubbock, Texas. In September 2013, Positron will receive relevant volumes of strontium-82 for qualification and will commence with commercial availability beginning in February 2014. This additional supply will enhance the industry's strontium-82 supply and increase the availability of radiopharmaceuticals to the end user. Positron intends to make this Sr-82 API supply available to all rubidium-82 generator producers in the marketplac