December 26, 2012 — St. Jude Medical Inc. announced the first patient enrollment in its ILUMIEN I clinical study. The observational study is designed to show the optimal way optical coherence tomography (OCT), combined with the PressureWire Aeris, a wireless interventional tool that measures fractional flow reserve (FFR), can guide stent implantation in patients with coronary artery disease.

December 26 , 2012 — Congress last week affirmed its dedication to securing a sustainable, domestic supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) as it passed the American Medical Isotope Production Act of 2011 (S.99). The bill, sponsored Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ark), was passed out of the Senate by Unanimous Consent and referred to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. S.99 was included in the Conference Agreement for the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013. The president is expected to sign the final legislation.

December 26, 2012 — Flexible Stenting Solutions Inc. (FSS) announced it gained CE mark in the European Union for its 6 French Reconstrainable FlexStent Femoropopliteal self-expanding stent system. FSS is a developer of next-generation peripheral, neurovascular and biliary stents. This new device combines advanced FlexStent technology with unique reconstrainable stent delivery technology.

December 26, 2012 — Covidien announced a definitive agreement to acquire CV Ingenuity. The companies expect to complete the acquisition in the first calendar quarter of 2013. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. CV Ingenuity, a privately held company based in Fremont, Calif., is focused on improving patient outcomes in the treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

At RSNA 2012, GE Healthcare focused attention on next-generation products and solutions in its computed tomography (CT) and Advantage Workstation (AW) businesses with the announcement of three scanners now available — the Optima CT660 FREEdom Edition, the Optima CT540 and the Discovery CT750 HD FREEdom Edition.

RealView's 3-D holographic projection of a heart
RealView 3-D mid-air holographic projection
Covidien's OneShot renal denervation

The annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting brings many cutting-edge technologies to the forefront during its five days of clinical sessions. This is my editor’s choice of the most innovative technologies discussed during TCT 2012.

A new device about the size of a business card could allow health care providers to test blood for insulin and other blood proteins, cholesterol, and even signs of viral or bacterial infection all at the same time — with one drop of blood. Preliminary tests of the V-chip, created by scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, were published by Nature Communications.

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