Healthcare reform has focused much attention on measuring quality in clinical settings, and as a result, providers must improve procedural outcomes and justify the cost and necessity of procedures. For PCI procedures, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) provides interventional cardiologists with a tool to assess the lesions and extent of coronary artery disease (CAD) for improved clinical decisions.

Treating thoracic aortic disease (TAD) is often complex and difficult, but because endovascular treatment options have become more widely used and less invasive, a scientific statement issued by the American Heart Association said that a more comprehensive review of the current state of medical management, open therapy and endovascular treatments of TAD is needed.

Cardiva Medical has appointed Charles Maroney as president, CEO and member of the companys board of directors, effective immediately.

BOSTONMinimizing the time for carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in patients reduces the risk of recurrence and improves neurological outcomes, according to the results of a study presented at the 2010 Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) annual meeting on June 10.

BOSTONFor patients undergoing carotid artery stenting (CAS), use of statins can decrease perioperative and late stroke rates and also reduce mortality, said Paola De Rango, MD, of the University of Perugia in Perugia, Italy, during a presentation at the 2010 Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) meeting June 10.

Sponsored by an educational grant from St. Jude Medical. Since the clinical benefits of fractional flow reserve (FFR) were confirmed with ongoing results of the FAME study, the technology has gained wider adoption. To assess its impact on contemporary cath labs, five interventionalistsSalman Arain, MD, David Cohen, MD, William Fearon, MD, Ashequl Islam, MD, and Peter Ver Lee, MDcame together from across the U.S. to the discuss the economic considerations.

AccessClosure, a vascular closure device manufacturer, has made changes to its leadership board and has selected Gregory D. Casciaro to serve as its president and CEO, while current President and CEO Fred Khosravi will assume the position of chairman of the board.

For patients undergoing PCI, use of vascular closure devices and bivalirudin to stop periprocedural bleeding may lower the risk but this strategy is less likely to be used on high-risk patients who would most benefit from the technique, according to a study published in the June 2 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.