April 6, 2012 — Crux Biomedical announced that a recently completed pivotal trial of its Crux Vena Cava Filter (VCF) System with bi-directional retrieval was presented at the 2012 Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Annual Scientific Meeting, March 24-29, in San Francisco. Vena cava filters are designed to trap blood clots that can lead to potentially fatal pulmonary embolisms (PE) among patients at risk. In the study, deployment and retrieval each were achieved with a 98 percent success rate.

April 6, 2012 — St. Jude Medical Inc. announced it has appointed Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), an academic health science research institute, to analyze data from three combined registries on the Riata ST Optim and Durata implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) leads. The analysis will be entirely under the control of PHRI, who will complete a review of the performance of the leads.

April 6, 2012 — Positron Corp. announced the approval of its Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) manufacturing and distribution license amendment for the company's radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Crown Point, Ind.

April 6, 2012 — AliveCor, developer of the mobile electrocardiogram (ECG) recorder, announced results from a study that demonstrated how the company’s ECG monitoring device is intuitive and allows users to learn and characterize their heart rates by using the hand-held device in their hands or on their chest. The data from the credit-card-sized wireless device is designed to help physicians and health care providers monitor and assess their patients’ heart health for a variety of medical reasons.