Abiomed, a developer of heart support technologies, has narrowed its net losses in the 2011 fiscal year, partly due to double-digit revenue increases with the Impella heart pump in the 2011 fiscal fourth quarter and year, both of which ended March 31.

Peri-procedural risk of events seems to be higher in women who have carotid artery stenting than those who have carotid endarterectomy, whereas there is little difference in men, according to a substudy of the CREST trial published May 6 in Lancet Neurology.

Abbott Vascular is voluntarily recalling 500 units of its MitraClip mitral valve repair system (Evalve), which is used to reduce mitral regurgitation and as an alternative to open-heart surgery for certain patients, after the company found problems with its delivery catheter system.

BALTIMOREThere is no evidence of correlation between pre-procedural brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, change in BNP levels and clinically important reduction in systolic blood pressure following renal artery stenting, based on the late-breaking HERCULES trial presented May 5 at the 2011 Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) scientific sessions. However, the RX Herculink Elite renal stent system (Abbott Vascular), which is not FDA approved, was shown to be safe.

Among patients with stable coronary artery disease undergoing PCI, less than half were receiving optimal medical therapy (OMT) before PCI and approximately two-thirds were receiving OMT at discharge following PCI, with relatively little change in these practice patterns after publication of the COURAGE trial, according to an observational study published May 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

BALTIMOREEndovenous stents in the femoropropliteal veins are safe and effective; however, the natural history of stenting in the venous circulation is different than arterial stents, according to the late-breaking EVISTA-DVT trial presented May 6 at the 2011 Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) scientific sessions.

Mark A. Turco, MD, former director of cardiac and vascular research at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Md., has accepted the position of chief medical officer (CMO) at Covidien within its vascular therapies unit.

The FDA has expanded indications for the RX Acculink carotid stent to include patients at risk for stroke due to clogged neck arteries. This decision is a major breakthrough in the debate surrounding carotid artery stenting (CAS) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for stroke prevention.