defibrillators, older heart patients, Duke Medicine study, Tracy Wang

Heart attack patients age 65 and older who have reduced heart function might still benefit from implanted defibrillators, according to a Duke Medicine study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But fewer than 1 in 10 eligible patients actually get a defibrillator within a year of their heart attacks, the study found.

Medtronic plc announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and U.S. launch of the recapturable, self-expanding CoreValve Evolut R System. The first-and-only recapturable and repositionable device available in the United States, the Evolut R System is approved for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in severe aortic stenosis patients who are at high or extreme risk for surgery. Untreated, aortic valve stenosis can lead to serious heart problems including heart failure and even death.

The current monitoring of patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) may be underestimating device problems, according to UC San Francisco researchers. They propose systematic methods to determine accurate causes of sudden death in those with CIEDs such as defibrillators and pacemakers, as well as improved monitoring for device concerns.

The Medicines Company announced the approval of cangrelor (Kengreal) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an adjunctive therapy to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The novel, intravenous antiplatelet agent is indicated for reducing periprocedural thrombotic events in patients who have not been treated with a P2Y12 inhibitor and are not being given a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI).

The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and Ke Labs jointly announced in May an agreement to co-develop and co-market a new cardiac ultrasound software application. The application is designed to ensure quality and consistency of cardiac ultrasound image review — both quantitatively and qualitatively — and inform and educate users on interesting cases, new techniques and other changes. This medical imaging quality management software tool is generally referred to as the “Echocardiography Test and Teach Application,” and it has been designed through the expert guidance of Harvey Feigenbaum, M.D., FASE with the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at Indiana University Health and founder of the ASE.

Epsilon Imaging Inc. announced that several studies were presented at the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) 2015 conference, June 13-16, on its EchoInsight automated measurement suite for improved analysis and interpretation in echo.

Agfa HealthCare announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for diagnostic viewing with the XERO Viewer. This Full Fidelity View functionality of the viewer uses lossless compression to provide diagnostic quality when images are displayed, by retrieving original-quality renditions of stored digital X-ray (DX), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed radiography (CR) and ultrasound (US) images.

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