Protembis GmbH announced the first clinical applications of its ProtEmbo Cerebral Protection System to complement a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure. The ProtEmbo System is an intra-aortic filter device that deflects embolic material arising during TAVR away from the brain.

September 6, 2017 — Physicians identified a majority of patients with advanced heart failure as at high risk for ...

Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation announced it has enrolled the first-in-the-world patient in a clinical study to evaluate a minimally invasive clip-based repair system made by Abbott for treating people with moderate or severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR). This study is the first application of this minimally invasive technology for use in the tricuspid heart valve, where currently there are no options for most patients. Paul Sorajja, M.D., performed this first-in-human procedure at Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

Abbott announced it has initiated a U.S. pivotal clinical study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a modified version of its Amplatzer device designed to correct patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), a common congenital heart defect.

September 1, 2017 — Final results from the CASTLE-AF study show a 38 percent reduction in the composite of all-cause ...

Medtronic plc announced its intent to move forward with a new renal denervation pivotal trial following positive first results from a sham-controlled study in patients with high blood pressure. Investigators of the SPYRAL HTN-OFF MED Study found statistically significant and clinically important blood pressure reductions in the patients treated with renal denervation (RDN) across both office and ambulatory systolic and diastolic measurements. The data in the first 80 patients enrolled in the study at three months were presented in a late-breaking clinical trial session at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting, Aug. 26-30 in Barcelona, Spain and published simultaneously in The Lancet.

NaviGate Cardiac Structures Inc. (NCSI) announced that its Gate catheter-guided tricuspid atrioventricular valved stent (AVS) was implanted through the jugular vein six weeks ago into a patient’s transplanted heart that was failing due to severe tricuspid valve insufficiency. The successful implantation of the Gate AVS at the Policlinico of the University of Padua, Italy, represents the first European patient treated with the NCSI tricuspid replacement heart valve. Three hours after the intervention the patient was awake and showing improved renal function. Now, approximately two months post-procedure, the patient continues to demonstrate clinical improvement and excellent valvular function. This brings the total number of NCSI Gate tricuspid implants without 30-day mortality to three.