February 21, 2011 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an endoprosthesis device for use on a lower profile delivery system. The Gore Viabahn Endoprosthesis with Heparin Bioactive Surface, from W.L. Gore and Associates, is designed to percutaneously treat peripheral artery disease by relining the native vessel.


In the world of endovascular devices, the rule is no longer one size fits all. The recent increase in the variety of stents for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) offers the physician of a patient with coronary artery disease (CAD) the ability to tailor treatment to the individual, rather than tailor the patient to the therapy.

Recent advances in electrocardiogram (ECG) stress testing systems include better waveform analysis algorithms, improved connectivity with electronic medical records and wireless lead systems to untether patients from the machines. In addition, Web-based software and ECG management systems are making it possible to access ECG stress reports and waveforms from anywhere at any time.

Computed tomography (CT) offers a very important, noninvasive diagnostic tool, but the price of high image quality sometimes comes with a cost of high radiation dose. This is especially true of CT angiography (CTA), which may require imaging several cardiac cycles.

February 18, 2011 – A zero-footprint mobile application that enables remote access to imaging tools from hand-held mobile devices, as well as Macintosh- or Windows-based PCs is on display at the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2011 Annual Conference and Exhibition.

February 18, 2011 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared an ultrasound software tool to measure the thickness of the intima-media layers of the carotid artery to evaluate asymptomatic patients' risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Auto-IMT, from Toshiba, is now available on the Aplio XG, Aplio MX and Xario XG ultrasound systems.

February 18, 2011 – An independent study in the journal Circulation confirmed the early and sustained clinical benefits for a system treating aortic valve disease.


Clopidogrel (Plavix) has been the standard antiplatelet therapy for a decade, but it is now facing challenges with the fact that one-third of patients do not respond to the agent and new drugs offer alternatives.

Healthcare IT vendors offer a variety of cardiovascular information systems (CVIS), picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), imaging and diagnostic hardware they say will integrate into a seamless electronic medical record. However, end-users still complain this level of interoperability does not exist.

Warren Hospital, an acute care community hospital serving Warren and Hunterdon counties in rural New Jersey, supports 214 patient beds and 140,000 outpatient visits per year.
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