August 7, 2007 – After using a portable echocardiography to test the potential of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) assay in diagnosing heart failure among patients registered as having heart failure in a single primary care practice, researchers determined that BNP level is not useful for validating a primary care register diagnosis of heart failure, according to a report in the July 30th BMC Cardiovascular Disorders.

August 6, 2007 - Atrium Medical Corp., a manufacturer of chest drainage products, announced that its soft and firm thoracic catheters, PVC Catheters, are di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) free, in accordance with the FDA’s recommendation that medical device manufacturers reformulate products to remove DEHP.
Atrium remanufactured its catheters to not only in response the FDA’s push for medical device manufacturers to reformulate products to remove DEHP but also to support the recommendation by the FDA that all hospitals use alternatives to DEHP containing products.

August 6, 2007 - Boston Scientific Corp. announced that it will not move forward with a public offering of shares of its $1.4 billion surgical devices unit, which earns as much as a fifth of the company's sales, in a plan to reverse a drop in its share price.

August 6, 2007 - While the use of emergency angioplasty and clot-busting drugs to treat heart attack patients in the United States has increased significantly since the mid 1990s, about 10 percent of eligible patients still don't receive these therapies.

That's the finding of a new study in the American Journal of Medicine.

Angioplasty and clot-busting drugs reopen clogged arteries and restore blood flow to the heart muscle. This kind of treatment, called emergency reperfusion, can save lives and prevent lasting damage to the heart.

August 6, 2007 – In a statement on The Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 (CHAMP Act) (H.R. 3162), which the House passed with a vote of 225-204 on August 1 of 2007, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) responded to lawmakers, urging them to address serious concerns about this bill’s proposed new physician payment structure.

August 3, 2007 - World Heart Corp. (WorldHeart), a developer of mechanical circulatory support systems, recently announced a successful animal implant of a miniaturized, pediatric, ventricular assist device (VAD) called the PediaFlow, which is designed for a future minimally invasive adult VAD, intended to meet a large clinical need for earlier-stage heart failure patients.

August, 3, 2007 - In patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C), there is a high rate of recurrence following radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation following electrophysiologic mapping, researchers report in the July 31st issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

August 3, 2007 – Novation, a healthcare contracting and services company of VHA Inc. and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), awarded ev3 Inc. three, three-year contracts beginning Oct.

August 3, 2007 - Volcano Corp. announced it has received approval by regulatory authorities in Japan to market the Revolution 45 MHz rotational IVUS imaging catheter and related accessories, which covers the use of the Revolution Catheter when used on Volcano's IVG IVUS system, and will be the highest frequency IVUS catheter available in key Japanese market.
Volcano, which is already shipping the Revolution catheter in the U.S. and Europe, expects to launch the Revolution catheter into Japan in the fourth quarter of this year.

August 3, 2007 - CryoCor Inc., a medical device company focused on the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, announced today that the FDA has granted pre-market approval (PMA) for its Cardiac Cryoablation System for the treatment of right atrial flutter, enabling CryoCor to target over 200,000 U.S. patients treating flutter with cryoablation annually.

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