When it comes to opening blocked carotid arteries, surgery may be less risky than stents according to a study by French doctors including Jean-Louis Mas, M.D., of the Hospitaux Sainte-Anne in Paris.

The new Fetch Aspiration Catheter from Possis Medical, Inc. has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA. Employing catheter technology from the company’s AngioJet Rheolytic Thrombectomy System, the Fetch catheter gives physicians another alternative for the aspiration of small, fresh blood clots (thrombus) and other embolic debris from arteries.

Boston Scientific has European CE clearance to begin marketing a private-label XIENCE V everolimus-eluting coronary stent made by Abbott Vascular. The stent, named PROMUS, makes BSC the only company offering two distinct DES platforms in the CE geographies.

The company can market PROMUS in the 25 countries of the European Union; the CE mark also supports market registrations in other regulated countries in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

A test designed to measure the durability of CoreValve’s ReValving device reached 200 million cycles, the company has reported. CoreValve’s chairman, CEO and founder, Dr. Jacques Seguin, says initial findings indicate its proprietary porcine pericardium aortic heart valve behaves, in vitro, better than tissue valves.

Reuters reports that seniors with diabetes are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease than non-diabetics, according to researchers from Kaiser Permanente in Tucker, GA.

First U.S. installations of Volcano Corp.’s s5i IVUS (intravascular ultrasound) imaging system have been completed at: Columbia Presbyterian in New York, NY; Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, CA; Providence Hospital in Columbia, SC; and UNC in Chapel Hill, NC.

IVUS integration has also taken place at smaller community hospitals including Katherine Shaw Bethea in Dixon, IL, Western Medical in Anaheim, CA, and Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, CO.

Berchtold Corp. has announced the introduction of the ChromoView Dual Flat-Panel (DFP) monitor mount and arm, a system that supports big images in a small space.

RadWhere Suite, from Commissure Inc., now has a new component. RadWhere Workflow Orchestrator enables radiology departments to connect together multiple PACS, RIS, 3D advanced visualization and teleradiology information into a central worklist.

New technology for the Stellant D CT Injection System from MEDRAD is designed to improve timing for cardiac CT imaging. SmartFlow automatically suggests injection protocols by factoring in patient-specific parameters, which can be a time-consuming process if done manually.


A nurse hangs another IV bag and prepares to hit the start button on the infusion pump — she’s entering 15 cc’s and as she taps the numbers in, she believes her entry for the number 5 didn’t take, so she hits it again and begins the intravenous infusion into her patient.
She leaves the room. The pump has been programmed at 155 cc’s because she unwittingly punched numeral 5 twice.


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