The first patient in the United States has been implanted with the Boston Scientific Corporation ImageReady MR Conditional pacing system in the SAMURAI clinical trial. The study is designed to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the system in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment. While MRI images can help clinicians make informed decisions about treatment and care, most pacemakers are not compatible with MRI technology, and therefore patients may not have access to the sophisticated scanning capabilities of the diagnostic system.
Agfa HealthCare announced that Hunt Regional Healthcare, Greenville, Texas, has upgraded its Agfa HealthCare picture archive and communication system (PACS) to Impax 6.5 and installed Agfa HealthCare's Cardiology PACS and Xero Viewer to deliver a consolidated view and centralized management of patient, image and information data. With the addition of Agfa HealthCare's Xero Viewer, physicians are able to access the nearly 100,000 imaging exams and reports done each year, on virtually any Hunt Regional facility device. Because the information is web-based, physicians can access the results in real time.
Cook Medical has launched a new fully-retractable .035 inch embolization coil, intended for peripheral arterial and venous embolization. Embolization is a nonsurgical, minimally invasive procedure performed by a physician to block or reduce blood flow in arteries and veins. Cook showcased the Retracta Detachable Embolization Coil at the annual Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) meeting.
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A simple self-monitoring test could reduce the risk of stroke by half in thousands of people in the United Kingdom who currently take warfarin to prevent blood clots. Better access to self-monitoring of international normalized ratio (INR) levels, which measures how long it takes blood to form a clot, could also lower mortality rates by nearly two fifths,[1] reduce the number of complications and has the potential to save the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) around £62 million a year,[2] a group of members of parliament (MPs), patients and charities stated this week.
The Alliance for Integrity in Medicare (AIM), a broad coalition of medical specialty, laboratory, radiation oncology, and medical imaging groups committed to ending the practice of inappropriate physician self-referral, announced that it is pleased that the updated Simpson-Bowles proposal recommends constricting the in-office ancillary services (IOAS) exception. AIM has long supported the position expressed by the Moment of Truth Project on physician self-referral.
According to a new survey by Etiam, hospitals see a significant need for an organized system to manage the sizable flow of medical images many receive from beyond the enterprise. Hospitals also expressed concern about the security of the cloud, which increasingly plays a role in cross-enterprise access to this patient data.
Providing exceptional cardiovascular care for patients to achieve the best possible outcomes is the number one goal for ...
Fovia Medical Inc., and Softneta UAB are collaborating to deliver High Definition Volume Rendering to the telemedicine market.
Cleaning your mouth and cleaning your arteries could be as simple as a once-a-day oral rinse if additional studies confirm preliminary findings about a new product.
TriReme Medical Inc. and its affiliates (TriReme) announced that its Japanese partner, Century Medical Inc. (CMI), has received Shonin approval for the Glider PTCA balloon catheter indicated for treating the stenotic portion of coronary arteries or bypass grafts to improve myocardial perfusion. Combining a skived tip and a braided shaft, Glider is the world's only torqueable PTCA catheter and is designed to assist physicians in treating the most challenging cases such as bifurcations and highly stenosed lesions.
Cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) is growing in popularity among cardiologists because it provides the ability ...

New computed tomography (CT) dose studies and growing public media attention have made minimizing unnecessary radiation dose to patients a priority for medical imaging facilities. In addition, state regulatory agencies and accrediting bodies are increasing their oversight and regulation of radiation dose. Reducing dose while maintaining good clinical image quality, however, is complex.
The decision to perform an invasive procedure to open clogged arteries in the heart instead of first trying medication and lifestyle changes may not reduce a patient's risk of death or of a major cardiac event. Unnecessary procedures to treat chronic, stable heart disease contribute to rising healthcare costs. A targeted approach to avoiding this kind of overutilization by instead relying on evidence-based decision-making is presented in Population Health Management.
Stenting reopens completely blocked bowel arteries, preventing damage and even death from a condition that causes individuals severe pain and leads to excessive weight loss, notes research being presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 38th Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans, La.
When performing radiofrequency (RF) ablation to treat cardiac arrhythmia, medical professionals must balance the safety ...
Leading research institutions are making breakthroughs in advanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc.’s Vantage Titan 3.0T MR system. Toshiba has partnered with Shands at the University of Florida and the Keck Medical Center of the University of Southern California (USC) for MR research in fMRI, as well as body and cardiac imaging.
Cardiosonic Inc. announced the completion of the first phase of patient enrollment in its first-in-man (FIM) TIVUS I clinical study. The study is designed to collect data on the safety and performance of the TIVUS System, a high intensity, non-focused therapeutic ultrasound catheter system for remote tissue ablation for the treatment of hypertension by renal denervation (RDN).
Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., has installed two 12-user headset systems from Quail Digital. The hospital has implemented the systems in the cath EP Labs. Wireless headsets are worn by the physician, scrub technician, X-ray technician, anesthesiologist, nurse and the control room technicians.