The Medicines Company has reported net losses for its fiscal 2009 first quarter results.

Despite considerable progress in treating patients who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, survival andespeciallyneurologic outcomes remain relatively poor. Two areas in which more progress can be made are improved resuscitative measures, including the use of an automatic support pump, and better ventilation control. A third area that is slowly gaining traction is hypothermia therapy, according to Timothy D. Henry, an interventional cardiologist and director of research at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minnesota.

Vascular closure devices after PCI are experiencing an increase in utilization and vendors often speak to their benefits. Yet, complication rates vary widely, with seemingly little intention to explore the root of the problem, particularly in randomized controlled trials.

Heart attack patients who develop serious arrhythmia in connection with procedures to open blocked arteries face a significantly higher risk of death for several months after the procedure, when compared with similar patients who do not develop such complications, according to research published in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Medtronic has laid off about 240 workers from a cardiovascular division plant in Santa Rosa, Calif., in a plan to shift the work to a lower-cost facility in Galway, Ireland.

SynCardia Systems, manufacturer of the SynCardia temporary CardioWest Total Artificial Heart, introduced its 12-lb Freedom discharge driver at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) meeting in Paris this week.

Teleflex Medical and the FDA notified healthcare professionals of the Class 1 recall for Arrow International 30cc, 40cc and 50cc intra-aortic balloon pump catheters, a component of the intra-aortic pump system designed to provide cardiac assist therapy to increase blood flow to the heart.

Abbott has launched MOBILITY, a clinical trial studying the safety and efficacy of the Absolute Pro peripheral self-expanding stent system to treat iliac artery disease.