Aligned with its commitment to provide innovative medical technology for the interventional treatment of peripheral artery disease, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) has initiated the European launch of the TOTAL across crossing catheter, which recently received the CE (Conformité Européene) mark as a tool for improving blood flow through narrowed or occluded lower-extremity arteries, including those in the especially challenging below-the-knee (BTK) vessel bed.

Women may be at risk for thrombotic events for up to 12 weeks after delivering a baby, twice as long as previously thought, according to a study published online Feb. 13 in The New England Journal of Medicine. The findings were simultaneously presented at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego.

Frigid temperatures, crippling ice and snow and drought—extreme weather has raised concerns from coast to coast this year. Now add stroke to the wintry mix.

Young adults who reported cocaine use within 24 hours had a six- to seven-fold increase in risk for ischemic stroke, according to research presented Feb. 12 at the meeting of the International Stroke Conference of the American Heart Association in San Diego. This increase is especially significant among women, even though women use cocaine less frequently.

Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) has announced the U.S. launch and first use of the OffRoad™ Re-Entry Catheter System, an important addition to the company's portfolio of tools to treat complete arterial blockages in the major arteries of the legs.  These blockages, called chronic total occlusions (CTOs), are associated with advanced peripheral artery disease (PAD).  The first use of the OffRoad System was performed by J.A. Mustapha, M.D., director of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, director of Endovascular Interventions, and director of Cardiovascular Research at Metro Health Hospital in Wyoming, Mich.

Women have unique risk factors for stroke, and a joint panel of experts from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association made recommendations that take these risk factors into account. Their guidelines were published online Feb. 6 in Stroke.

Continuing to expand the role of endovascular aortic repair, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Valiant Captivia Thoracic Stent Graft System to be used in the treatment of type B aortic dissections, a serious cardiovascular condition associated with high morbidity and mortality in which the upper segment of the body's main artery has become torn along the innermost layer of the vessel wall.

Temple University Hospital (TUH) could be among the first U.S.-based hospitals to test a new device known as a multilayer stent in patients suffering from aortic aneurysm, a condition characterized by the formation of a potentially life-threatening bulge in the aorta. Approved in Europe in 2010, the device has already been used to help hundreds of European patients with the condition, and Grayson H. Wheatley III, MD, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery at Temple University School of Medicine, and Director of Aortic & Endovascular Surgery at TUH, thinks thousands more could benefit in the United States.