January 7, 2010 – Anti-platelet treat with Effient (prasugrel) compared with Plavix (clopidogrel) was more cost effective, according to results from a health economic substudy of the TRITON-TIMI 38 trial. The trial looked at the drug treatments in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) managed with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

January 6, 2010 – European CE mark clearance was granted this week for the Volcano OCT (optical coherence tomography) imaging system and catheter. Volcano said its OCT system will be commercially available in Europe in early 2011.

January 6, 2010 – The FDA, in collaboration with major implantable pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) manufacturers, demonstrated the effects of emissions from radio frequency identification (RFID) readers on common implantable cardiac devices.

January 5, 2010 – St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada recently was the first to use the Embrella Embolic Deflector cerebral protection system. The device uses a porous membrane to deflect emboli away from the carotid arteries. It is inserted through the right radial or right brachial artery, away from the femoral artery, which is the typical access site for procedures.

December 30, 3009 – The U.S. Justice Department said yesterday Spectranetics Corp. agreed to pay $4.9 million in civil damages, plus a $100,000 forfeiture, to resolve allegations it illegally imported unapproved medical devices and provided them to physicians for use in patients.

December 29, 2009 - Among the 312 heart transplant patients at the Mayo Clinic who researchers followed for 19 years, nearly half developed skin cancers during follow-up, particularly squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas, according to a study published in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology.