Congenital heart disease contributes to more than 30 percent of infant mortality in the U.S., so time is essential in diagnosing and treating these conditions in newborns. However, most hospitals do not have pediatric cardiac specialists on staff who can diagnose and suggest courses of treatment, which is why telecardiology has bloomed in this field.
Dave Fornell is the editor of DAIC magazine

The dividing line between the jobs performed by cardiac surgeons and interventionalists will become increasing blurred in the near future as transcatheter heart valves and PFO occluders replace open-heart surgery. These nonsurgical structural heart treatment techniques were among some of the most exciting trends at TCT 2008, which was highlighted by nearly 40 sessions on these subjects.

With the healthcare industry striving for greater efficiency at virtually every level, it shouldn’t be a surprise that hospitals and clinics are increasingly turning to manage patients with implantable cardiac devices remotely, including implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-Ds) and pacemakers.
The Cook Evolution lead extraction system.
Spectranetics ultraviolet Laser Sheath for lead extraction
Spectranetics ultraviolet Laser Sheath for lead extraction

Management of implanted leads for pacemakers and defibrillators is a growing concern among physicians with more than 2 million Americans relying on a pacemaker or defibrillator to regulate their heart beat and that number growing each year. The lead is the most vulnerable part of an implantable device and the most common component to fail.

March 9, 2009 - The use of dual-source computed tomography (DSCT) may be useful to noninvasively detect in-stent restenosis, especially in stents with a relatively large diameter, according to a study in this week’s issue of the American Journal of Cardiology (pages 812-817).

March 9, 2009 – Merck & Co. Inc. and Schering-Plough Corp. today said their Boards of Directors unanimously approved a merger agreement under which the companies will combine under the name Merck.

March 9, 2009 - Ziosoft’s new monthly subscription program for its Ziostation software will allow facilities to utilize Ziosoft's thin-client system immediately without a capital investment.

In addition to the monthly subscription fee program, the company will also offer flexible purchasing plans tailored to customers' needs.

March 9, 2009 - The Ministry of Health for the Province of Quebec has awarded ZOLL Medical Corp. a contract valued in excess of $12 million to equip all ambulances in the Canadian province with the ZOLL E Series defibrillator, representing the first time the Province of Quebec will standardize its entire system to one model of defibrillator.

March 9, 2009 - Cytori Therapeutics Inc. completed enrollment in its APOLLO trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of adipose tissue-derived stem and regenerative cells, processed with the company’s Celution System, in the treatment of severe heart attacks.

iNtuition is TeraRecon's new, unified workflow platform, which delivers the best possible solution for advanced image management in an enterprise and an efficient way to manage workflow once the CT data leaves the MDCT scanner.

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