Virginia, Minn. – Every day, Jack Luzovich steps on a special scale that helps keep him in his northern Minnesota home, rather than the hospital. At age 61, he is fighting the debilitating symptoms of congestive heart failure. Last summer, his health hit a low point. “I was retaining fluid and my weight was going up and down,” he remembers. “I couldn’t walk more than 10 to 15 feet. I was on oxygen, jaundiced and had almost no kidney function.” That’s when Jack received a telemonitoring scale from the Essentia Health Heart Failure Program (formerly St. Mary’s Duluth Clinic Heart Failure Program). The device records his weight and asks him questions about his health. It transmits that vital information to a cardiac nurse, who can make changes to his medications and track his condition on a daily basis.

May 10, 2011 – The Impella percutaneously deployed ventricular assist device showed an overall average hospital charge savings when compared to the standard-of-care intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). The economic analyses is based on data from the PROTECT II study, which compares Impella to IABP hemodynamic support.

May 10, 2011 – A simple blood test may help prevent a serious complication associated with a contrast agent commonly used in MRI exams, according to a study published in the July issue of Radiology.

May 10, 2011 – The world's smallest and thinnest high-energy cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to treat heart failure and sudden cardiac death and offer excellent longevity were launched this week in Europe. Boston Scientific Corp. announced the launch and first implants of its Energen and Punctua CRT-Ds and ICDs in Europe and other international markets.

May 9, 2011 — John Webb, M.D., FSCAI, has traveled the globe teaching fellow physicians how to repair or replace faulty heart valves using minimally invasive techniques. In a keynote Founders’ Lecture delivered at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2011 Scientific Sessions last week, he recount the challenges that arose in developing valve therapies that avoid open-chest surgery. Instead, interventional cardiologists use slender tubes, or catheters, that are threaded into the heart through blood vessels.

May 6, 2011 — In the case of angioplasty and stenting, readmission rates due to procedural complications are less than 1 percent, according to a study presented at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2011 Scientific Sessions.

May 6, 2011 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released its list of pre-market approval (PMA) decisions for new or enhanced medical devices from March 2011.