Cardiovascular Business invited representatives from the four major stent manufacturers to discuss the challenges and future outlook for drug-eluting stents (DES).

As multifunctional cardiac catheterization labs see new cardiovascular products constantly arriving and old ones getting pushed to the back shelves, administrators need a well-organized storage space, as well as a sophisticated method for integrated inventory management to control costs and revenue.

Defibtech and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA) have launched an effort to provide automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to communities with critical needs.

St. David’s HealthCare, along with Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia, hasdeveloped the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute (TCAI) at St. David’sMedical Center in Austin.

 Top executives of Physio-Control and its parent company Medtronic havesigned a consent decree of permanent injunction issued by the FDArelated to automatic external defibrillators (AED) manufactured byPhysio-Control.

The persistent discrepancy between the door-to-balloon times of on-hours versus off-hours in STEMI patients undergoing PCI procedures can be solved through cost-effective means; however, some argue that an expensive and complex pre-activation program is needed to bring off-hour times in line with those of on-hours.

For survivors of anterior-wall MI who were not candidates for implantation of a cardioverter–defibrillator, access to a home automated external defibrillator (AED) did not significantly improve survival, compared with reliance on conventional resuscitation methods, according to results from the Home Automated External Defibrillator Trial (HAT) presented Tuesday by Gust H. Bardy, MD, at the 2008 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

As cardiology evolves, one crucial subspecialty may be growing in demand far beyond the industry’s present ability to provide highly trained, dedicated technicians: electrophysiology.