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Cardiovascular Network
Women With Heart Attack More Likely Than Men To Present Without Chest Pain and Have Higher In-Hospital Mortality
CHICAGO – Among heart attack patients, women are more likely than men to present to a hospital without chest pain and also have a higher rate of in-hospital death following a heart attack than men within the same age group, although these differences decrease with increasing age, according to a study in the February 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Previous analyses have shown that a large number of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) lack chest pain/discomfort at presentation. “Patients without chest pain/discomfort tend to present later, are treated less aggressively, and have almost twice the short-term mortality compared with those presenting with more typical symptoms of MI,” the authors write.
HealthGrades ranks Parma Hospital #1 in Ohio for Coronary Interventional Procedures
HealthGrades, the nation’s most trusted, independent source of physician information and hospital quality ratings, has named Parma Community General Hospital the best hospital in Ohio – and among the top 5 percent in the nation – for coronary interventional procedures. Parma Hospital also ranked among the top hospitals in the state for overall cardiac services.
“We’re proud of the cardiac care we deliver to the community,” said Dr. Christine Zirafi, medical director of cardiac catheterization services. “We continue to improve in all areas and are obviously quite pleased to be ranked number one for coronary interventional procedures in the state of Ohio for 2012.”
Medtronic Resolute Integrity™ Drug-Eluting Stent Obtains FDA Approval for Treating Coronary Artery Disease
MINNEAPOLIS –– February 17, 2012 — Medtronic Inc. today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Resolute Integrity™ Drug-Eluting Stent (DES) for the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD).
The new stent’s FDA approval stems from the results of a global series of studies involving the Resolute DES, which showed consistently powerful clinical performance across a broad spectrum of patients –– including those with diabetes. The Resolute DES uses the same drug-and-polymer combination as the Resolute Integrity DES.
The Resolute Integrity DES builds on the success of the bare metal stent. The Integrity platform’s rapid adoption in the United States is the result of a proprietary engineering advance called continuous sinusoid technology (CST).
St. Jude Medical Initiates a Study to Evaluate the Economic Impact of FFR in Asia and Australia
Country-specific analysis will evaluate the cost effectiveness of an FFR-guided intervention strategy for patients with multivessel coronary artery disease in Japan, China, India, Korea, and Australia
February 16, 2012 — St. Jude Medical, Inc. announced it will evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness of fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided treatment for patients with multivessel coronary artery disease in Japan, China, India, Korea, and Australia. The analysis will also determine the potential health and budget impact that FFR-guided treatment provides for each of the countries.
Stereotaxis Announces European Adoption Milestone and Health Canada Market Clearance for Vdrive™ System
ST. LOUIS, Feb. 8, 2012 -- Stereotaxis, Inc. announced that its Vdrive™ Robotic Navigation System, which provides physicians the ability to remotely manipulate traditionally non-robotic catheters, is expected to surpass 500 clinical procedures in Europe in February. The company also announced it has received regulatory clearance from Health Canada to commercially market the device in Canada.
Since the initial product release in Europe in 2011, the Vdrive system has been installed in nine centers, with units scheduled to be installed in additional centers during the first quarter of 2012. The initial nine centers have performed 473 clinical cases with approximately 80% being completed in the left atrium of the heart.
Robotic-Assisted PCI Procedures Using CorePath® 200 System Will Be Discussed During CRT2012 Conference
NATICK, Mass. –February 6, 2012– Corindus Vascular Robotics, a developer of precision vascular robotics, today announced that Giora Weisz, MD, Director of Clinical Cardiovascular Research at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, will present his personal experience using the CorPath® 200 System as part of the CorPath PRECISE Trial during a scientific presentation “Cath Lab of the Future: Robotics” at the Cardiovascular Research Technologies’ annual meeting, CRT2012 . The scientific presentation will take place on Tuesday, February 7 at 2:55 p.m. in the Palladian Ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Goal of Robotic-Assisted PCI procedures is to reduce radiation exposure / Demonstration at CRT 2012
ROBOTIC-ASSISTED PCI PROCEDURES USING CORPATH® 200 SYSTEM WILL BE DISCUSSED DURING CRT2012 CONFERENCE
NOTE: The CorPath 200 System is an investigational device and limited by federal law to investigational use only.
Vascular Solutions Launches Reprocessing Service for ClosureFAST® Vein Catheters
Collaboration with Northeast Scientific Designed to Reduce Medical Waste and Lower Customer Costs
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (February 3, 2012) – Vascular Solutions, Inc. is marketing a reprocessing service for the ClosureFAST radiofrequency ablation catheter in the United States. The ClosureFAST catheter, which is manufactured and marketed by VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc. division of Covidien, is widely used for performing endovenous therapy for the treatment of varicose veins. Vascular Solutions’ reprocessing service is designed to help physicians reduce medical waste and lower their costs.
Vascular Solutions is offering the reprocessing service under contract with Northeast
Scientific, Inc. (NES), an established third-party reprocessor of medical devices. NES received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on November 30, 2011 for reprocessing the ClosureFAST catheter.
AMA: Halt Implementation of ICD-10
On January 17, 2012, AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD, wrote to House Speaker John A. Boehner, urging the halt of the required implementation of ICD-10 under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Madara outlines the reasons why ICD-10 would place unnecessary burden on physicians with no added patient benefit.
Dr. Madara showed that a five-fold increase in current codes and the need for education, software, coder training, and testing with payers would significantly increase the cost to physicians as a result of code compliance.
“As HIPAA covered entities, physicians are responsible for complying with this ICD-10 mandate, and therefore must bear the entire cost of such a transition, without any financial aid from the government,” Madara noted. “Depending on the size of a medical practice, the total cost of implementing ICD-10 ranges from $83,290 to more than $2.7 million.”
AngioDynamics to Acquire Navilyst Medical for $372 Million
ALBANY, N.Y. and MARLBOROUGH, Mass. January 31, 2012 — AngioDynamics, a provider of innovative, minimally invasive medical devices for vascular access, surgery, peripheral vascular disease and oncology, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Navilyst Medical in a transaction valued at $372 million based on yesterday’s closing stock price of $14.20.
Navilyst Medical is a global medical device company involved in the vascular access, interventional radiology and interventional cardiology markets. Avista Capital Partners acquired the business from Boston Scientific in 2008, and it generated sales of $149 million in calendar 2011. The acquisition will significantly expand AngioDynamics’ scale, doubling its share of the vascular access market while building critical mass in the peripheral vascular market. The transaction will be accretive to net sales growth, EBITDA margin and earnings per share.
New Appropriate Use Criteria Reflect Latest Scientific Data on Restoring Blood Flow to Heart
Appropriate use criteria will help physicians select treatments for patients
WASHINGTON, DC (January 30, 2012) – Updated appropriate use criteria released today offer detailed guidance on when to use an invasive procedure to improve blood flow to the heart and how to choose the best procedure for each patient. The clinical scenarios, written by a group of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, affirm the role of revascularization for patients with acute coronary syndromes and significant symptoms.
Special SCAI-QIT Webinar: Navigating the Revised Appropriate Use Criteria for Coronary Revascularization
Online Image Sharing Q&A with Washington Hospital Center Cath Lab Director Steve Simms
http://www.vigilantmedical.net/2012/01/online-qa-with-washington-hospita...
Use of Iodinated Contrast Media in Imaging Procedures Appears to Affect Thyroid Function
CHICAGO – Exposure to iodinated contrast media (ICM) during imaging procedures is associated with changes in thyroid function, and increased risk of developing hyperthyroidism, according to a report in the January 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
“Although certain complications of ICM (e.g., contrast-induced nephropathy) have been extensively studied," the authors write, "there has been little examination of the effect of ICM on thyroid function.”
Connie M. Rhee, MD, and colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, examined data from patients treated between January 1990 and June 2010 who did not have preexisting hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism. Patients were matched with euthyroid (normal thyroid function) controls, and exposure to iodinated contrast media was assessed using claims data.
Sexual Activity is Safe for Most Heart, Stroke Patients
DALLAS, Jan. 19, 2012 -- If you have stable cardiovascular disease, it is more than likely that you can safely engage in sexual activity, according to an American Heart Association
scientific statement.
The statement, published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, contains recommendations by experts from various fields, including heart disease, exercise physiology and sexual counseling.
"Sexual activity is a major quality of life issue for men and women with cardiovascular disease and their partners," said Glenn N. Levine, MD, lead author of the statement and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. "Unfortunately,
discussions about sexual activity rarely take place in the clinical context."
The recommendations include:
-- After a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, it is reasonable for
patients to be evaluated by their physician or healthcare provider
Independent Data Safety Monitoring Board Recommends St. Jude Medical's FAME II Clinical Trial Stop Enrollment Following Positive Interim Analysis
"This is further evidence that FFR should be considered the standard of care for patients with coronary artery disease"
ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan 18, 2012 – St. Jude Medical, Inc. announced today that an interim analysis of the FAME II trial has found a highly statistically significant reduction in the need for hospital readmission and urgent revascularization when fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided assessment was used to direct treatment in patients with coronary artery disease. As a result of the positive interim analysis, the FAME II independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has recommended investigators stop patient enrollment in this trial as the DSMB considers it unethical to continue to randomize patients to optimal medical therapy (OMT) alone.
Philips Begins Clinical Trial Enrollment for CHILL-MI Study
Study will further evaluate the safety and effectiveness of endovascular cooling to reduce reperfusion injury in acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients
Study Evaluates Relationship Between Blood Potassium Levels After Heart Attack and In-Hospital Mortality
CHICAGO – Patients hospitalized after a heart attack who had blood potassium levels of between 3.5 and less than 4.5 mEq/L (milliEquivalents per liter) had a lower risk of death than patients with potassium levels that were higher or lower than this range, according to a study in the January 11 issue of JAMA. Clinical practice guidelines recommend maintaining serum potassium levels between 4.0 and 5.0 mEq/L in patients after a heart attack.