News

August 31, 2011 — Results of a recent randomized controlled study show the drug-eluting stent Xience V performs well in patients having primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). It also has a better safety profile than that of bare metal stents.

Home August 31, 2011
Home
News

August 31, 2011 — A recent study revealed more than 1,000 cardiac arrest deaths over 15 years are connected to the failure of automated external defibrillators (AEDs); battery failure accounted for almost one-quarter of the failures. The study was published online last week in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("Analysis of Automated External Defibrillator Device Failures Reported to the Food and Drug Administration").

Home August 31, 2011
Home
Feature

August 30, 2011 – Results from a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2011 show that transcatheter aortic-valve implantation (TAVI) in low-risk patients met with 100 percent procedural success (versus 95.3 percent in the high Euroscore group (p=0.1). While researchers expected a lower mortality among patients with low Euroscore, the observed difference was much greater than anticipated. In fact, the mortality rates with the Edwards Sapien valve have approached the results with conventional surgery.

Home August 30, 2011
Home
News

August 30, 2011 – Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the best reperfusion therapy for patients presenting with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Researchers used the Western Denmark Heart Registry to describe the implementation of primary PCI in Denmark. Their study (including almost 10,000 patients) showed that a strategy with early diagnosis, based on electrocardiogram (ECG) recording in the ambulance and directing the patients straight to the catheterization laboratory in the primary PCI center, was associated with a lower mortality. The data was presented this week at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Paris.

Home August 30, 2011
Home
News

August 30, 2011 – Compared with patients who had persistently high platelet reactivity, those who achieved low platelet reactivity, according to the VerifyNow P2Y12 Test, had a reduced incidence of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stent thrombosis, as indicated by a clinical trial presented today at the ESC Congress 2011.

Home August 30, 2011
Home
Aortic valve stenosis (intraoperatively)
Feature | By Anke Opitz, M.D.

August 30, 2011 – Single center data of the German Heart Centre in Munich demonstrate a sustained improvement of hemodynamic values up to three years after CoreValve implantation. There are no signs of unexpected early degeneration of the CoreValve prostheses. The data was presented at the European Society of Cardiology this week in Paris.

Home August 30, 2011
Home
News

August 29, 2011 — An observational study demonstrates the percutaneous catheter-based MitraClip treatment improves symptoms and promotes reverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) who do not respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The results were presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting in Paris.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

August 29, 2011 — A German team has developed a completely new non-invasive method to identify heart failure. It consists of an "electronic nose" which could make the "smelling" of heart failure possible. The project was presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress 2011. “The early detection of chronic heart failure (CHF) through periodical screening facilitates early treatment application,” said investigator Vasileios Kechagias from the University Hospital Jena.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

August 29, 2011— The echocardiographic response (reduction of left ventricular end-systolic volume), evaluated at six months follow-up, proved a better predictor of long-term mortality than clinical status improvement in a large population of cardiac resychronization therapy (CRT) patients. Therefore, assessment of occurrence of left ventricular reverse remodeling at mid-term follow-up may be an adequate surrogate endpoint in heart failure patients treated with CRT.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

August 29, 2011 – BK Medical will showcase its innovative Flex Focus 700 ultrasound system and BK Power Pack at the 13th World Congress of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB) in Vienna, Austria, Aug. 26-29, 2011.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

August 29, 2011 — Recent data suggest post-operative outcomes of severe heart failure patients bridged short-term ventricular assist devices (VADs) to urgent heart transplantation are significantly worse than in patients bridged with conventional support. The data comes from the Spanish National Heart Transplant Registry.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

Stroke patients who need emergency care should be taken to the nearest certified primary stroke center, which acts as a central point for stroke treatment, according to recommendations from the Brain Attack Coalition (BAC), a group representing medical, scientific, nonprofit and government leaders in the field of stroke. The recommendations, which reflect advances in stroke treatment over the past decade, are published online in the September issue of the journal Stroke.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

August 29, 2011 — The Guidelines on Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) are the first document produced by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to address all aspects of peripheral atherosclerotic disease, excepting the aorta. The document does include disease of extracranial carotid and vertebral, mesenteric, renal, upper and lower extremity arteries. It is the result of close collaboration between physicians from many different areas of expertise: cardiology, neurology, radiology, vascular surgery, and vascular medicine.

Home August 29, 2011
Home
News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released its “Strategic Plan for Regulatory Science,” a sweeping initiative to modernize the tools and methods that the agency uses to evaluate whether the products it regulates are effective and safe for consumers.

Home August 26, 2011
Home
Feature

August 25, 2011 – Transcatheter structural heart occluder maker Occlutech said this week it closed a 15 million Euro investment in the company to accelerate its device development and bring it to market. The European company develops medical implants to treat structural heart disease such as atrial septal defects and patent foramen ovale (ASD and PFO) and left atrial appendage (LAA) occluders.

Home August 25, 2011
Home
Subscribe Now