September 6, 2012 — Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Eli Lilly and Co. announced data from the TRILOGY ACS study, a phase III trial comparing prasugrel plus aspirin to clopidogrel plus aspirin in patients with unstable angina (UA) or non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), who were managed medically without an artery-opening procedure.


Medtronic has reached two clinical program milestones for its CoreValve system in the United States. It completed enrollment in its study of high-risk patients in its CoreValve U.S. Pivotal Trial, which concludes the total trial enrollment of more than 1,500 patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at high- or extreme-risk for aortic valve surgery. Medtronic continues to enroll extreme-risk patients in the trial as part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continued access policy and is seeking approval to continue enrolling high-risk patients under this policy.

September 4, 2012 — Philips Heathcare announced that mVisum Inc.’s STEMI Alert smartphone app is now available to work in conjunction with Philips TraceMasterVue and IntelliSpace electrocardiogram (ECG) management systems.

The great Japanese earthquake and consequent tsunami of March 11, 2011, which hit the northeast coast of Japan with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale, was one of the largest ocean-trench earthquakes ever recorded in Japan. In addition to claiming the lives of almost 16,000 and destroying nearly 400,000 homes, the disaster resulted in a sharp increase in the number of CV events.

Like an eyewitness to a freight train bearing down on a rocket fuel truck at a railroad crossing, I couldn’t avoid watching the ensuing carnage after two individuals who underwent positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) with CardioGen-82 (Rubidium Rb 82 Generator) triggered airport radiation sensors in May 2011. Hung up on the tracks… Bracco Diagnostics, healthcare providers and their patients. Inbound at 60 miles-per-hour and weighing in at 15,000 tons… the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  

August 30, 2012 — Aspirin combined with the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel is no better than aspirin alone for stroke prevention in people with a history of lacunar strokes, and the combination carries a greater risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, according to results of a trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Lacunar strokes occur due to chronic high blood pressure and typically produce small lesions deep within the brain.


August 30, 2012 — Baseline data from the first cohort of the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the Field (GARFIELD), an innovative, academic research initiative, shows that established, evidence-based guidelines for preventing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are not being followed in many patients and across diverse populations.

August 30, 2012 — According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), an authority on the medical technology market, as significant numbers of peripheral vascular and vascular access procedures move out of the hospital setting and into a variety of outpatient facilities, manufacturers of peripheral vascular stents, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloons, atherectomy devices, thrombectomy devices and dialysis catheters will face new and complex challenges in marketing their products.

August 30, 2012 — Implantable devices for treating cardiac arrhythmias, which include implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), are already underused in parts of Eastern and Central Europe and there is a risk that the financial crisis could exacerbate the problem. The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), is tackling this issue through ICD for Life. The initiative aims to raise awareness about the importance of ICDs and sudden cardiac death in countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

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