May 24, 2010 – New collaborations will enable the use of Boston Scientific’s iLab Ultrasound Imaging System with the Philips’ Allura Xper and the Siemens’ Axiom Artis and Artis zee interventional X-ray systems. The iLab provides both intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and intracardiac ultrasound (ICE).

May 21, 2010 – A second company is hoping to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for an optical coherence tomography (OCT) intravascular imaging system. Volcano Corp. said its second generation OCT system is pending FDA investigational device exemption (IDE) approval so it can start its VOILA clinical trial in the United States and South America.

May 21, 2010 – The first successful transcatheter mitral valve implantation (TMVI) for a new mitral valve technology will be highlighted at the EuroPCR 2010 scientific meeting in Paris. A proprietary transcatheter delivery system was used to successfully deliver the valve in the porcine model.

May 21, 2010 – Results of an in vivo study of 48 porcine arteries implanted with a biodegradable stent showed biodegradation is measurable and begins at the first day of implant. However, high radial strength is maintained during biodegradation.

May 21, 2010 – A new stent delivery system is designed to be reliable, easy to use and precise when delivering the self-expanding Supera peripheral vascular stent. The new delivery system was launched this week in Europe.

The Supera Veritas system was developed to deliver the Supera for the treatment of biliary and peripheral artery disease (PAD).

May 20, 2010 - The International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT held May 19 in San Francisco, Calif., hosted the “Workstation Face-Off,” which challenged providers of advanced 3-D image processing technologies to process and interpret three complex computed tomography (CT) imaging studies.

May 20, 2010 - Seven advanced visualization systems companies competed at the annual “Workstation Challenge” held at the 2010 International Symposium on Multidetector Row CT (ISCT) held in San Francisco, Calif.

May 20, 2010 – A fractional flow reserve (FFR) guide wire gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and European CE mark to speed treatment of multivessel disease. These blockages usually have more tortuous tissue to navigate through and it takes longer to guide several devices over-the-wire to deliver treatment.

May 20, 2010 – An aortic embolic protection device, which acts as a protective shield to reduce the incidence of embolization to the brain, was granted CE mark approval this week in Europe. The Embrella Embolic Deflector will serve as an adjunctive device to be used in procedures such as transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedures.

May 20, 2010 – St. Jude Medical Inc. announced yesterday it is purchasing LightLab Imaging Inc. for $90 million. Lightlab makes optical coherence tomography (OCT) intravascular imaging systems. Earlier this month its OCT system became the first cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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