December 3, 2010 – The initial patients have been enrolled in a trial for treating atrial fibrillation (AF). The DEEP AF trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of a dual epicardial/endocardial procedure, or hybrid procedure, using AtriCure’s minimally invasive surgical ablation platform. In addition, it will use Thermocool catheter ablation products from Biosense Webster.

December 3, 2010 – For the first time, data has shown that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is cost-effective in mildly symptomatic heart failure (HF) patients. Data from an economic sub-study of the REVERSE trial was published in the European Heart Journal.

November 24, 2010 – Results for a trial comparing a drug-eluting stent to balloon angioplasty and bare metal stenting in treating restenosis after angioplasty were announced at the VEITHsymposium. The Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent met the trial's 12-month primary endpoints. The stent has CE mark approval in Europe for the superficial femoral artery.

November 24, 2010 – Cardiologists and primary care physicians now perceive AstraZeneca's Crestor as comparable to Pfizer’s Lipitor in treating and reducing mortality in dyslipidemia patients, according to a survey by Decision Resources. This finding has changed from Decision Resources' 2009 analysis in which surveyed cardiologists viewed Lipitor as significantly better.

November 23, 2010 - The preliminary findings of the CREST study have so far failed to squelch the debate between proponents of the two different interventions for preventing stroke in patients with carotid stenosis. And at least one prominent vascular surgeon sees a most-unscientific phenomenon - “presenter bias” - as one reason the controversy is likely to continue.

November 23, 2010 – A device for peripheral transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and for capturing and containing embolic material during angioplasty in the lower extremities has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Proteus device, by Angioslide, can be used in the femoral, iliac, iliofemoral, popliteal, tibial, peroneal and profunda arteries.