May 21, 2012 -- Boston Scientific Corp. announces results from the REPRISE I feasibility trial, which evaluated the acute safety of the Lotus Aortic Valve System in patients with severe aortic valve disease.  The Lotus Aortic Valve System is the first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device of its kind that is designed to minimize aortic regurgitation (leaking) and is both fully repositionable and retrievable prior to release. Data presented at the annual EuroPCR Scientific Program in Paris demonstrated successful deployment of the valve in all patients with virtually no paravalvular regurgitation after valve placement or at discharge.

May 21, 2012 -- St. Jude Medical Inc. announced that data from the FAME II trial demonstrated a significant difference in the need for urgent revascularization when Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR)-guided assessment was used to direct treatment in patients with stable coronary artery disease. These highly statistically significant results validate the profound role that FFR-guided therapy has in improving patient outcomes. The preliminary data were presented at a late breaking trial session at EuroPCR.

May 21, 2012 — Minnetronix announced the exclusive licensing rights of Penn State Research Foundation’s wireless energy transmission technology to power circulatory assist devices in the treatment of congestive heart failure. Wireless energy transmission technology enables therapies for congestive heart failure, such as left ventricular assist devices (LVAD), to become fully implantable. Penn State is one of only two organizations in the world to have developed and deployed such a system clinically.

May 18, 2012 — AliveCor, the developer of a breakthrough mobile electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder, announced results from a study that demonstrated the accuracy of the company’s iPhone-based device, by comparing its Lead I to Lead I from a conventional 12-lead ECG. The study found that the iPhone-based event recorder is an accurate clinical tool for ECG assessment and could prove to be a new tool for allowing immediate recording and analysis of an ECG rhythm.

May 18, 2012 - New research from the University at Buffalo suggests that cardiologists may have a new way to identify patients who are at the highest risk of sudden cardiac arrest, and the most likely to benefit from receiving an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD).