CardiAQ Valve Technologies announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval for a feasibility study of its second generation transfemoral (TF) and transapical (TA) transcatheter mitral valve implantation systems. The study will enroll up to 20 patients (10 TF and 10 TA) and multidisciplinary physician teams at select U.S. sites will start enrollment once hospital approvals and agreements are in place.

While demand for electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring systems is increasing, a major hurdle has been the necessity of gel electrodes for reliable long-term measurements. The electrodes dry out within 24 hours, after which they no longer produce useable signals. They are also not very suitable for older patients who frequently sweat less and are less mobile than younger subjects. A team of Swiss researchers, however, recently unveiled a new chest strap heart rate monitor featuring wettable electrodes.

Medtronic plc announced it has received CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark for the Micra Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS), the world’s smallest pacemaker. At less than one-tenth the size of traditional pacemakers, the Micra device provides advanced pacing technology while being cosmetically invisible and small enough to be delivered with minimally invasive techniques through a catheter, and implanted directly into the heart.

The ScottCare Corp. announced it will highlight Ambucor, the company’s employable labor service division for CIED monitoring, at the 2015 Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions in Boston, May 13-16.

New technology developed at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may extend the benefits of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to many patients whose access to MRI is currently limited. A redesign of the wire at the core of the leads carrying signals between implanted medical devices and their target structures significantly reduces the generation of heat that occurs when standard wires are exposed to the radiofrequency (RF) energy used in MRI. The novel system is described in a paper published in the online Nature journal Scientific Reports.