Abbott and GE Healthcare today announced an agreement that will bring real-time, patient-specific data about the heart's electrical activity to cardiac electrophysiology labs around the world to speed up the diagnosis of the sources of atrial fibrillation and other heart rhythm disorders.

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced CE Mark approval of expanded labelling for its Ellipse™ implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), in addition to its Durata™ and Optisure™ defibrillation leads, allowing existing or future patients with these technologies to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans without compromising device performance. The company also announced today that it has received CE Mark approval for its Assurity MRI™ and Endurity MRI™ pacemaker device families. The approvals further expand St. Jude Medical’s MRI-conditional device portfolio in Europe. 

Boston Scientific today announced that key data from 42 abstracts will be featured at the 36th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) in Boston on May 13-16.

Medtronic plc today announced its schedule of notable clinical studies that will be presented at Heart Rhythm 2015, the Heart Rhythm Society's 36th Annual Scientific Sessions in Boston, including two late-breaking clinical trials featuring the Evera MRI® SureScan® implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) System and Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS).

As an early career electrophysiologist, Richard I. Fogel, MD, learned to raise his hand when projects needed a captain. Now he’s CEO of the St. Vincent Medical Group in Indianapolis and president of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS). His formula? Listen, ask good questions, surround yourself with talented people and let them do their jobs, he explains in a Q&A with Cardiovascular Business.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Priority Review to the Biologics License Application (BLA) for idarucizumab, which is being investigated to specifically reverse the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran, the active ingredient in Pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) in patients needing emergency intervention or experiencing an uncontrolled or life-threatening bleeding event. The idarucizumab BLA will be reviewed under Accelerated Approval and is the first review for a reversal agent in the novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC) class. Currently, no NOACs have an approved reversal agent.

The Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI) has been selected by the American College of Cardiology to be the Data Analytic Center for the atrial fibrillation (AF) platform of the ACC PINNACLE Registry. 

Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) today announced it has received CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark of the Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS), the world’s smallest pacemaker. At less than one-tenth the size of traditional pacemakers, the Micra device provides the most advanced pacing technology available while being cosmetically invisible and small enough to be delivered with minimally invasive techniques through a catheter, and implanted directly into the heart.