Children's Hospital of Michigan, Ariana Smith, aortic aneurysm, 3-D printing

Seventeen-year-old Ariana Smith recently became the first patient at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, and the first in Michigan, to benefit from a revolutionary 3-D printed heart model to treat a very large, complex aortic aneurysm.

The results of a blood test done immediately after heart surgery can be a meaningful indicator of postoperative stroke risk, a study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has found.

Medtronic announced Japanese regulatory approval for the self-expanding transcatheter CoreValve system for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). Japanese regulatory authorities granted approval of the CoreValve system for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) based on data from the CoreValve U.S. Pivotal Trials and the Medtronic CoreValve Japan Trial, which is the first study to evaluate a self-expandable transcatheter valve in the Japanese patient population.

SynCardia Systems Inc. has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to conduct an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) clinical study on the effective use of its 50cc SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart.

Medtronic plc announced the initiation of the SPYRAL HTN Global Clinical Trial Program, a phased clinical program studying renal denervation in uncontrolled hypertension. This announcement follows investigational device exemption (IDE) approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

UHC has released the findings of a new study that evaluated the use of medical devices based on cost and quality outcomes. The goal of the study was to uncover several trends related to high-priced physician preference items (PPIs). Utilization of PPIs — which can account for 30 to 40 percent of a hospital's supply expenses — at 10 academic medical centers, focusing on procedures utilizing orthopedic implants, coronary and peripheral stents and cardiac valves.

According to information technology (IT) company Logicalis US, managing a high volume of patient images in varying formats requires development of a comprehensive enterprise imaging strategy that addresses five core components while remaining vendor-neutral.


Congress has passed legislation that eliminates the threat of annual cuts in Medicare payments to providers that were required under the sustainable growth rate (SGR) to control skyrocketing Medicare costs. The legislation, H.R. 2, lays the framework to allow Medicare to transition from its current fee-for-service payment system to a value-based reimbursement system.
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