Ruptured vulnerable plaque (VP) is blamed for the majority of acute myocardial infarctions and many strokes, but there is extensive debate over which modalities are best suited to detect these plaques, and there is as of yet no conclusive way to determine which of these plaques will rupture.

tryton side branch stent, dedicated coronary side branch stent delivery balloon
TriReme Medicals Antares Coronary Stent
Boston Scientific TAXUS Petal, dedicated bifurcation stent

Stenting of lesions at coronary vessel bifurcations is one of the most challenging percutaneous interventions, along with a high risk of procedural complications and restenosis. Several companies are developing specialized bifurcation stents to help make the job easier. Currently there are no dedicated bifurcation stents with FDA clearance.

September 17, 2009 - Inflation rates for healthcare supplies are projected to remain unchanged through 2010, according to an analysis released by the Premier healthcare alliance.


Over the past year several new drug-eluting stents (DES) stents have been released and SYNTAX trial data proved DES compare as well as coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) in patient outcomes.

DES vs. CABG

Metal stents are foreign objects that can irritate vessels and cause stent thrombosis, prevent vessel remodeling, prevent future surgical interventions, can fatique and suffer strut fractures, and impair CT or MR imaging. For these reasons several stent manufacturers are working on biodegradeble stents that do not leave behind any hardware.

September 17, 2009 - The Senate Finance Committee reduced the imaging utilization assumption rate from 90 percent to 65 percent, in essence cutting the originally proposed utilization increase by nearly two-thirds.

September 17, 2009 - Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc. today announced the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical study to assess the safety, dosimetry and tolerability of LMI1195, a novel F-18 small molecule tracer for imaging cardiac neuronal function, in healthy subjects, undergoing positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.


The polymer coating on drug-eluting stents (DES) used to carry the antiproliferative drugs cause an increased risk of stent thrombosis, months or even years after a stent is implanted. This has led stent manufacturers to look for or ways to eliminate the vessel irritating polymers for better biocompatibility usually associated with bare metal stents (BMS).

September 16, 2009 – Guided Delivery Systems Inc. (GDS) announced the first successful percutaneous implantation of the GDS Accucinch System for mitral valve repair.

September 16, 2009 - Medrad will host a breakfast symposium, “Complete Thrombus Management During Rapid STEMI Intervention,” during TCT 2009, starting at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, in Moscone Center, room 130.

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