September 19, 2012 — This past week, surgeons and cardiologists at Sentara Heart Hospital were the first in the world to begin performing surgeries in the Dual Epicardial Endocardial Persistent Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Study (Staged DEEP) feasibility trial.

September 19, 2012 — In response to criticism by physicians about the restrictiveness of conditions put forth by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for reimbursement for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) is emphasizing the importance of heart team quality and experience in ensuring positive patient outcomes.

First-year medical students at Mount Sinai School of Medicine will be the first in New York to be introduced to a digital-age ultrasound device that can visualize inside the body, and fit directly into the pockets of their brand new white coats.

September 18, 2012 — Inpatient hospital treatment accounts for the largest proportion of healthcare spending in the United States, with the use of diagnostic imaging services such as magnetic resonance images (MRIs) frequently implicated as the probable cause. A new analysis finds that the biggest expense may not be from imaging technology, but from supplies including medical devices, such as stents and artificial joints.

September 18, 2012 — Neovasc Inc. announced that acute results from preclinical studies of its Tiara valve for the transcatheter treatment of mitral regurgitation were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). The study reports that the initial experience with the Tiara transcatheter mitral valve was encouraging, and that implantation of Tiara valves was feasible, relatively straightforward and resulted in a securely-implanted, well-functioning device that maintained good hemodynamics in the test animals. The study, which will be published in the Oct. 9, 2012, edition of JACC, is currently available online.

Covidien announced the launch of the Viance Crossing Catheter and Enteer Re-entry System for treating chronic total occlusions (CTOs) endovascularly. The devices are now available in the United States, the European Union (EU) and other select international markets.

September 18, 2012 — Abiomed Inc. announced it received confirmation from the American Medical Association (AMA) of three new Category I Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) codes for Impella percutaneous technologies, effective January 2013.

September 17, 2012 — The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has released the results of its 2012 Practice Census, showing that the number of physician-owned practices continues to decline, while hospital employment has nearly tripled since 2007.

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