Sanford Aberdeen Medical Center in Aberdeen, S.D. became the first hospital to perform a robotic angioplasty for a patient with an acute heart attack, achieving a far better door-to-balloon time than the national standard. Interventional cardiologist Puneet Sharma, performed the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to treat a patient that had experienced a heart attack and presented to the Sanford Aberdeen emergency department. Utilizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared CorPath System, Sharma was able to perform the robotic-assisted angioplasty procedure and restore blood flow to the patient’s heart within 68 minutes of their arrival.

Infraredx Inc. announced the publication of key data supporting the ability of its TVC imaging system to detect lipid core plaque in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The study, published in JACC: “Cardiovascular Interventions,” details the identification of a specific cholesterol signature by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) at the site of the culprit lesions causing STEMI, a dangerous type of heart attack. While the TVC Imaging System has been used in more than 3,000 patients worldwide, the present clinical study is the first report of its use in a consecutive series of STEMI patients.