December 19, 2011 – The role of cardiovascular ultrasound in the catheterization laboratory has never been appreciated more than it is today. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) allows a multidisciplinary team of interventionalists and echocardiographers to replace a patient's diseased aortic valve without traditional open-heart surgery, enabling a new and potentially life-saving method of treatment for inoperable patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis.

December 16, 2011 – St. Jude Medical began a voluntary recall Nov. 28 for its Riata and Riata ST Silicone Defibrillation Leads, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now classified as a Class I recall. An estimated 79,000 Riata and Riata ST family of silicone leads remain active in patients in the United States, although the company stopped selling the leads in December 2010.

December 16, 2011 — Positron Corp. announced this week that on Dec. 12, 2011, its Attrius & Attrius L positron emission tomography (PET) scanners received approval for sale in Canada.

December 15, 2011 — Neovasc Inc. announced it has received the CE mark designation for its Reducer product for the treatment of refractory angina. CE marking confirms the Reducer conforms to the applicable European Directive; this allows the product to be marketed for implantation in patients in all member states of the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

December 15, 2011 — The San Diego Cardiac Center recently installed a 252-panel, 60-kilowatt (kW) commercial solar system that was designed and installed by Stellar Solar. Stellar Solar was selected based on their track record of installing large-scale commercial installations in San Diego, including their recently completed 500kW Salk Institute project.

December 15, 2011 – Siemens Healthcare offers a new information source for anyone facing an X-ray, computed tomography (CT) or a nuclear medicine examination. At www.medicalradiation.com, medical journalists and Siemens experts provide patients and interested members of the general public with basic details regarding medical radiation – including the fundamentals of the physics involved, an introduction to imaging procedures and notes on minimizing radiation exposure. A glossary explains the most common technical terms in a succinct, readily comprehensible manner.