June 26, 2008 - Loyola University Hospital has become the first Chicago-area hospital to treat heart problems with a magnetically guided catheter that is reportedly more precise than manual catheters and easier on the heart.

The Gentle Touch catheter has a metal tip. It is guided by two computer-controlled magnets, one on each side of the patient.

The magnetically guided catheter can be used to treat irregular heartbeats, to open clogged arteries and to place electrical leads for certain types of pacemakers. The $1.5 million system is made by Stereotaxis, Inc.

June 25, 2008 - U.S. health regulators remain concerned about the safety of contrast agents used to enhance echocardiogram heart imaging tests, according to FDA documents released on Friday.

The products, which include Optison, made by General Electric Co's GE Healthcare, and Definity, made by privately-held Lantheus Medical Imaging, have already been linked to serious heart problems and deaths in some patients.

June 25, 2008 - People with lower incomes and education levels are more likely to die after heart attack than more affluent, educated people, according to a study in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

June 25, 2008 - Lexiscan (regadenoson) injection, an A2A adenosine receptor agonist, for use as a pharmacologic stress agent in radionuclide MPI in patients unable to undergo adequate exercise stress, is now commercially available, reported Astellas Pharma U.S.

June 25, 2008 - Cambridge Heart has licensed a patent (7,336,995) for a "Method and Apparatus for Tachycardia Detection and Treatment" from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the terms of its umbrella technology license agreement with MIT, which enables the measurement of T-Wave alternans from implantable devices as part of a strategy to predict arrhythmias before they occur.

June 25, 2008 - Health Canada - Medical Device Bureau, Therapeutic Products Programme, has approved the use of the ATS Open Pivot AP360 Mechanical Heart Valve, allowing ATS to offer a valve designed according to specific valve selection criteria of cardiac surgeons.

June 25, 2008 – Global Therapeutics received CE Mark approval for a new cobalt chromium bare metal coronary stent, the GTX Coronary Stent System, which targets the bare metal stent market.

The GTX stent is reportedly engineered to eliminate the technical challenges, such as recoil, stent balloon retention and stent spring-back, that have been associated with earlier cobalt chromium stent designs currently on the market.”

June 25, 2008 - Cardiologists completed the 1,300th worldwide procedure utilizing the TandemHeart System, said manufacturer CardiacAssist, marking the increased acceptance of the device and use by cardiologists and surgeons.

June 25, 2008 - Medtronic reported that all Vision 3D implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-Ds) are now compatible with the Medtronic CareLink Network.

June 20, 2008 - HemoCue AB reported that the FDA granted the HemoCue Albumin 201 System, a quantitative point-of-care test for screening, diagnosing and monitoring microalbuminuria, a CLIA waiver, enabling the use of the test kit in any healthcare facility with a CLIA Certificate of Waiver in the U.S.
Microalbuminuria may indicate the presence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in patients with or without diabetes or hypertension.

Subscribe to
© Copyright Wainscot Media. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe Now