MedStar Heart Institute of Washington, D.C., and Infraredx Inc. enrolled the first participant in the Lipid-Rich Plaque (LRP) Study. The LRP Study is a prospective, multi-center study aimed at identifying a correlation between LRPs and the occurrence of a cardiac event within two years.


Edwards Lifesciences Corp. announced the successful completion of the first three human implants of its Fortis mitral transcatheter heart valve. The Heart Team at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London performed them in February and March.


The Valley Hospital is among a few hospitals in the nation to implant a tiny wireless heart monitor expected to have impacts for patients and doctors.

W. L. Gore & Associates’ Gore Excluder Iliac Branch Endoprosthesis is a complete, fully engineered system intended for endovascular treatment of common iliac artery aneurysms or aortoiliac aneurysms. It received CE marking. The first patient procedures in Europe were successfully completed by vascular surgeons Piergiorgio Cao, M.D., chief of vascular surgery at San Camillo Hospital, Rome, Italy, Mo Hamady, M.D., consultant interventional radiologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, and Michael Jenkins, consultant vascular surgeon and clinical lead at St. Mary’s Hospital, London.

Despite good immediate results, in up to 40 percent of patients, obstructed arteries in the leg treated with a stent will again become blocked. This in-stent restenosis is typically treated with balloon angioplasty to clear the artery. The addition of drug-eluting balloons is showing improved outcomes for restenosis and could become the treatment of choice for femoropopliteal in-stent restenosis.

Biotronik announced the first implantations of the Sentus ProMRI lead. Biotronik’s bipolar cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) lead is the first MR conditional lead with a 4 French diameter — approximately 1.6 mm. An ultra-thin lead, it enables access to particularly challenging vessels and offers expanded pacing options. In addition, the Sentus leads are allow patients to undergo MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans. The CRT lead received CE marking in early February.


The American College of Radiology applauded steps to reign in medical imaging and radiation oncology self-referral included in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget. However, prior authorization for imaging services, also included the FY 2015 budget, is unnecessary and will ultimately raise costs, interfere in the doctor-patient relationship and restrict ready access to imaging care.


Blanchard Valley Health System is a non-profit, integrated health system with more than 2,000 associates serving eight counties in Ohio. It selected Merge Healthcare Inc. for its enterprise-wide vendor-neutral archive (VNA), interoperability and cardiology solutions to meet Meaningful Use 2 (MU2) requirements for the exchange of images. 

At age 88, Lena M. Smith visited her doctor, Larry Hunt, M.D., at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to find out why her energy level had diminished. 

Vital Images Inc., a Toshiba Medical Systems Group Company, is expanding in the EMEA market with an increasing number of organizations migrating to Vital's VitreaAdvanced solution to help improve efficiency, communication and patient care. The VitreaAdvanced advanced visualization solution provides 2-D, 3-D and 4-D images for applications addressing cardiovascular, neurovascular and oncology disease states. Fueled by intelligent automation, it utilizes a clinical workflow to improve speed and simplicity of use.

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