January 9, 2012 – A registry that includes every patient in Sweden having percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) found use of newer generation drug-eluting stents (DES) is associated with lower rates of restenosis, stent thrombosis and mortality than older DES and bare-metal stents.

January 6, 2012 - C. R. Bard recently announced it acquired drug-eluting balloon maker Lutonix Inc. for $225 million. Following successful approval of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pre-market approval (PMA), an additional $100 million will be paid.

January 6, 2012 – A study led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has identified a molecular pathway that leads to this abnormal blood clotting and have turned it off using a popular class of cholesterol-lowering drugs; statins.

January 5, 2011 – Bayer HealthCare's oral anticoagulant tablet Xarelto (rivaroxaban) has been approved for use in the United Kingdom in two important blood-clotting disorders

January 4, 2012 - A study reported in the current issue of Pediatric and Developmental Pathology compares cardiac tissue from 12 patients with histiocytoid cardiomyopathy (HC) and 12 age-matched controls. Researchers found differences in gene expression that could indicate a predisposition for HC.

January 3, 2012 — Independent research firm KLAS has named Hitachi’s Oasis High-field Open MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) as the Open category leader for the second consecutive year in its “Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards” report. KLAS presented this award to Hitachi Medical Systems America at an RSNA 2011 reception on Nov. 27, 2011.

January 3, 2012 – Siemens Healthcare recently announced the winners of its 2011 International CT [computed tomography] Image Contest. More than 160 institutes and hospitals from 43 countries on all continents submitted more than 600 CT images –– all captured on Siemens CT scanners using the lowest possible radiation dose. Selected by an international jury of experts, the seven winners –– which were displayed at RSNA 2011 –– hail from China, England, France, Ireland, Macau, Singapore and the United States. In addition to exhibiting a high standard of quality, the images are impressive examples of how valuable diagnostic information can be obtained even at an extremely low dose.

January 3, 2012 – Novadaq Technologies Inc., a developer of real-time imaging systems for use in the operating room, and Maquet Cardiovascular, a manufacturer of products for cardiac surgery, vascular intervention and cardiac support, announced that the companies have signed an agreement naming Maquet Cardiovascular as the exclusive distributor of Novadaq's CO2 Heart Laser systems and procedure kits in the United States.