For the past few years, the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutic (TCT) conference has focused on structural heart disease as a major subspecialty in interventional cardiology. This year’s conference, which runs from Oct. 10 to 15 in San Francisco, will have more of an emphasis on coronary intervention, according to TCT co-director Gregg W. Stone, MD.

The FDA approved the Synergy bioabsorbable polymer drug-eluting stent system on Oct. 5 to treat coronary artery disease. The Synergy stent is the first FDA-approved bioabsorbable polymer drug-eluting stent system, according to Boston Scientific, its manufacturer. The stent was approved in Europe in 2012.

Good Samaritan Hospital in L.A. looks to its managers to preserve that margin by slashing supply costs without compromising clinical quality.

High-risk PCI patients have new options at Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia with the Impella 2.5, a miniature heart pump for use in elective and urgent high-risk PCI procedures.

The FDA has issued a Class I recall of a select number of SynCardia Systems Total Artificial Heart Freedom driver.

Corindus Vascular Robotics released a documentary on Sept. 16 to promote its CorPath System, the only FDA-cleared device for robotic-assisted PCI.

Current guidelines in the U.S. recommend patients take dual antiplatelet therapy for at least a year after PCI with drug-eluting stents. The guidelines on the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy may be soon altered, however, based on results of recent studies.

Medicure submitted a supplemental new drug application with the FDA on Sept. 10 to expand the labeling for tirofiban hydrochloride (Aggrastat) to include patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The company said in a news release that it expects the FDA to make its approval decision by July 2016.