Biotronik recently launched its 3Flow Aspiration Catheter in Europe. The catheter is specifically designed to facilitate quick and accurate thrombus aspiration, complementing Biotronik’s already broad coronary vascular intervention (CVI) portfolio.

Few issues are more important to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) than translating the best available scientific evidence into clinical practice guidelines that can be used by healthcare professionals to improve patient outcomes and the quality of cardiovascular care. This is evidenced by the 17 clinical practice guideline topics — and many more updates — the organizations have jointly developed and published since the early 1980s through a highly robust process and methodology that continues to evolve.

The first outcome-based guidelines for interventional treatment of acute ischemic stroke — providing recommendations for rapid treatment — will benefit individuals suffering from brain attacks, often caused by artery-blocking blood clots. Representatives from the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) and seven other medical societies created a multispecialty and international consensus on the metrics and benchmarks for processes of care and technical and clinical outcomes for stroke patients.

A patient's relationship with his or her doctor has long been considered an important component of healing. Now, in a novel investigation in which physicians underwent brain scans while they believed they were actually treating patients, researchers have provided the first scientific evidence indicating that doctors truly can feel their patients' pain — and can also experience their relief following treatment.