January 12, 2010 – In its January issue, Prevention magazine named the Endo-PAT2000 endothelial function testing device one of the top medical breakthroughs of 2009.

January 11, 2010 – Health Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. FDA, cleared heart sound analysis software that connects wirelessly to a Bluetooth-enabled electronic stethoscope.

January 11, 2010 – The first patients were enrolled in the phase 3 clinical trials for a drug designed to lower triglycerides for patients at risk for cardiovascular disease.

January 8, 2010 – Japanese regulatory officials this week cleared the XIENCE V Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent. Abbott said it plans to launch sales in Japan in the coming weeks, immediately following final reimbursement authorization.

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.