Rounding out a very successful year, Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE) reports they have reached record-breaking numbers of accreditation applications for cardiac cath labs in 2013. “Accreditation applications have more than doubled since 2012,” said Mary Heisler, RN, BA, ACE Executive Director. “More labs are realizing the importance of accountable metrics and know it’s time to get started on the quality journey with ACE.”

At the 99th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), December 1-6 in Chicago, Siemens Healthcare (booth #1934, South Building/Lakeside Center at McCormick Place, Hall A) will introduce a new angiography system optimized for broad clinical utilization. Artis one¹ is designed for routine interventions, including revascularizations of peripheral arterial or venous occlusions, functional tests of dialysis shunts in patients with kidney failure, diagnostic angiographies of narrowed coronary arteries, and pacemaker implantations.

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Research & Education (R&E) Foundation awarded the 2013 Toshiba America Medical Systems/RSNA Research Seed Grant to Soterios Gyftopolous, M.D. and two 2013 Toshiba America Medical Systems/RSNA Research Resident Grants to Daniel S. Chow, M.D. and H. Benjamin Harvey, M.D., J.D. These grants are made possible by Toshiba America Medical Systems’ support of the RSNA R&E Foundation.

This year’s EuroEcho-Imaging conference in Istanbul, Turkey (11-14 December) will see global medical imaging manufacturer, Esaote, showcase Prevention Suite: a unique package of ultrasound imaging modalities for both cardiac and vascular investigations. Prevention Suite provides clinicians with a wide range of tools for assessing a patient’s risk of cardiovascular disease quickly and reliably, often before symptoms occur. It is regarded as providing a ‘step change’ in terms of early detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease using ultrasound.

In a matter of years, a doctor may see real-time images of a patient's beating heart and steer a robotic catheter through its chambers using the push and pull of magnetic fields while the patient lies inside a magnetic resonance imager.

The latest science on the role of imaging in diagnosing and treating heart failure will be presented at EuroEcho-Imaging 2013, the official annual meeting of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It takes place during 11-14 December in Istanbul, Turkey, at the Istanbul Lutfi Kirdar Convention & Exhibition Centre (ICEC).

Infraredx, Inc., a medical device company committed to advancing the diagnosis and management of coronary artery disease, announced today that its TVC Imaging System™ for the true vessel characterization of coronary artery disease will be highlighted in 13 presentations during the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Meeting (TCT 2013). TCT 2013, the world's largest educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine, will be held October 27-November 1, 2013 at The Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Newly accredited St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center, Syracuse N.Y., is the first hospital in New York and the second in the United States to accomplish accreditation in all three cardiovascular quality disciplines with the Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE): Diagnostic Cath, PCI and Carotid Artery Stenting (CAS), and is only one of two hospitals in New York State to achieve ACE accreditation distinction.