June 15, 2011 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Maquet Datascope Corp. has issued a class I recall for its System 98/98XT, CS100/CS100i and CS300 Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps (IABPs) because of a defective fan in the power supply.
June 13, 2011 – Today, GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics announced results of a study evaluating the cardiopulmonary safety of Optison (Perflutren Protein-Type A Microspheres Injectable Suspension, USP), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved diagnostic ultrasound contrast agent for use in improving suboptimal echocardiograms.
June 14, 2011 – New performance measures for adults with coronary artery disease (CAD) and hypertension were released today by the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF), the American Heart Association (AHA), and the American Medical Association (AMA)-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI). The measures reflect the standard of care for patients with coronary artery disease and hypertension, and are intended to provide practitioners and institutions with tools to measure and improve care quality.
June 14, 2011 — Lengthy periods of ambulance diversion are associated with higher mortality rates among patients with time-sensitive conditions, such as acute myocardial infarction. When a patient’s nearest emergency department was on diversion for 12 or more hours, there were higher patient mortality rates at 30 days, 90 days, nine months and one year than when not on diversion, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and lifeIMAGE today announced a partnership that will give ASE members the ability to exchange medical images and data with anyone, anywhere.
June 14, 2011 – An initial animal study of a next-generation transcutaneous C-Pulse Heart Assist System has been completed. The system is made by Sunshine Heart Inc., a global medical device company focused on technologies for Class III/ambulatory Class IV (moderate to severe) heart failure.
June 14, 2011 –FDA has given clearance to AngioViz, a GE application that gives doctors a new visualization of vascular flow on a single image to help them make important decisions during complex interventional radiology procedures.