Global Embolization Symposium and Technologies (GEST)

Catheter and Surgical Therapies for Atrial Fibrillation (CAST-AF)

Hosted by Northwestern Medicine.

DiA Imaging Analysis has partnered with the Italian healthcare IT company Ebit (Esaote Group), to offer DiA’s LVivo Cardiac Toolbox as an integrated part of Ebit's Suitestensa CVIS (cardiovascular information system). The LVivo Cardiac Toolbox is designed to analyze cardiac ultrasound images based on more objective and reproducible information, as opposed to manual measurement or visual analysis methods that are currently being used.

HonorHealth Research Institute announced the first patients have been enrolled in the SynIVUS-DAPT Study. The clinical study is designed to test outcomes of decreasing the amount of time patients with a high risk of bleeding take antiplatelet medications after receiving a drug-eluting coronary stent.

CardioFocus Inc. announced the European CE Mark approval of the HeartLight X3 Endoscopic Ablation System.

Angiography shows a stenotic lesion in the mid right coronary artery, undilatable by standard high-pressure balloon angioplasty (inset, arrowheads). (B) Optical coherence tomography (OCT) cross-sectional (top) and longitudinal (bottom) images acquired before IVL and coregistered to the OCT lens (arrow in A) demonstrate severe near-circumferential calcification in the area of the stenosis. (C) Angiography demonstrates improvement in the area of stenosis after IVL lithoplasty.
Figure 1: Shockwave Medical C2 IVL System. It uses sonic waves to break up calcified lesions without the need for atherectomy or high pressure ballooning.The lithoplasty system uses sonic waves to break up calcified lesions without the need for atherectomy or high pressure ballon angioplasty.

Over the last 40 years, despite multiple advancements in percutaneous coronary interventions, calcified lesions remain a challenge for even the most experienced operators leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality. Most recently, intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) has been shown to be an innovative technology that is designed to address heavily calcified lesions. 

For the first time in the United States, doctors with the American Heart Association (AHA) have outlined best practices for cardiologists to evaluate and manage patients who have heart attacks with no significant signs of coronary artery disease — a condition known as myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA). The new document, published in the March 27 issue of Circulation,1 aims to help physicians better recognize patients with this condition, to avoid common misdiagnoses and streamline care. It is especially important for women, who represent a disproportionate number of MINOCA cases.

Foreign-trained doctors now make up one-third of cardiologists in the United States and help make up for the U.S. overall shortage of physicians. Pictured here is co-author of this article Mandeep R. Mehra, MBBS, MSc, FRCP, who is an example of the contribution international physicians have made in the U.S. He is medical director of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center.

As we strive to process today’s successive news cycles involving negative reports about immigration, it is easy for many to assume that international physicians are a new phenomenon in the United States ― and a problematic one at that. Predictions of a physician shortage are now mainstream news. The immigration debate in recent years has heightened awareness of the individuals who enter our country and their reasons for coming here. And nationalist sentiments reinforce fears that our prestige and quality of life will suffer from welcoming others to the United States.

April 15, 2019 – Intact Vascular Inc. received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) market clearance for the Tack Endovascular System. This is a purpose-built dissection repair device implanted post-angioplasty in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

April 15, 2019 — Biotronik began its U.S. commercial launch of the PK Papyrus covered coronary stent system for use in the emergency treatment of acute coronary perforations.[1,2]

Now available in the United States, the PK Papyrus is the first FDA-approved device for the treatment of acute perforations in nearly two decades. More than 800,000 percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures are performed annually in the U.S. and fewer than 8,000 require a covered stent, classifying PK Papyrus as a Humanitarian Use Device.[3] 

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