The high cost of patient care is influencing many decisions in today’s healthcare marketplace. The expense of treating the estimated five million Americans who suffer from heart disease alone is a staggering $26.7 billion dollars annually and growing.

A study published in 2002, which assigned a 0-5 score to various clinical parameters, is still considered a major breakthrough in determining when to remove an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and implant a ventricular assist device (VAD) in patients suffering from cardiac low-output syndrome or acute cardiogenic shock. But not everyone is convinced that a risk severity score should be the only criteria.

The volatile debate over who should control cardiac imaging technologies - cardiologists or radiologists - has created a rift between the two fields. However, three physicians representing both fields are calling a truce on the turf wars by embracing the notion of greater collaboration. They believe this approach will optimize the potential of cardiac imaging.
Who is in Control?

In the past, patients with atrial fibrillation that came to Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCU) had several treatment options. There were medications to attack the complex and confusing condition. There were surgical options, involving different intensities and approaches. But according to Vigneshwar Kasirajan, M.D., chair of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, it wasn’t enough.
“We were nowhere near where we should have been, or where we wanted to be,” he said.

Innova Promise is GE Healthcare’s commitment to proactively monitoring every connected Innova X-ray system in warranty and covered by a Service contract to detect potential exam interruptions and prevent downtime. GE has over 1000 systems actively monitored, improving performance and providing critical feedback on system reliability. Innova Promise can detect deviations in primary areas such as low fluid levels, temperature or humidity spikes, and more complex issues around the mechanical and electrical functionality of the system.

November 14, 2007 - The European peripheral stents market is in the developmental phase, both in terms of revenue and technology due to improved diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), according to a study released by Frost & Sullivan.

November 14, 2007 - MIV Therapeutics Inc. announces that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the governmental agency with regulatory authority over medical products, has approved two of the Company's bare metal stents for manufacture and sale in India.

November 14, 2007 – More than 120 sites in 29 countries and more than 5,000 patients are now enrolled in OrbusNeich’s e-HEALING clinical study, a monitored multi-center, worldwide – not including the United States - prospective registry of patients treated with the Genous Bio-engineered R stent.

November 13, 2007 – A medical study led earlier this year by Matthew Budoff, M.D., associate professor of Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, concludes that Electron Beam Tomography (EBT) heart scan technology is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity and cardiac risk factors.

November 14, 2007 - According to Cardica Inc., a provider of automated anastomosis systems for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, a study found that 24 of 25 grafts of internal mammary arteries connected to left anterior descending (LAD) arteries were patent after the specified follow-up period as determined by 64-slice multidetector computed tomography.

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