St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced CE Mark approval and first use of the FlexAbility Ablation Catheter, a novel ablation technology used by electrophysiologists for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Designed with feedback from physician thought-leaders around the world, the FlexAbility catheter combines a unique, irrigated flexible catheter tip with a state-of-the-art handle and catheter design. The next-generation flexible tip technology was designed to reduce complications associated with ablation procedures through its ability to bend and conform to the cardiac anatomy, decreasing the amount of pressure distributed to a patient’s heart wall while simultaneously increasing the stability of therapy delivery.

Medtronic and Lifetech Scientific Corporation today announced an expansion of their strategic alliance to include jointly produced Lifetech pacemakers manufactured in and for China.

A team of researchers reviewing decisions to implant cardiac devices found that older patients with cognitive impairment were more often implanted with pacemakers, according to a study published online July 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

More than half of patients due for replacement of their implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) generator did not realize they could opt out and many underestimated the risks of ICD replacement, according to a research letter published online July 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Boston Scientific Corporation has initiated full commercial launch of the new POLARIS Imaging System.  This system will support the Boston Scientific family of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheters, including coronary, peripheral and intra-cardiac echo products.  The POLARIS System offers enhanced ease-of-use and more powerful processing capabilities.  Its modular design would also support the planned release of new Boston Scientific imaging products including a fractional flow reserve (FFR) wire, a new family of IVUS catheters, enhanced software features and better system control tools.

Continuing to advance the development of innovative treatment options for coronary artery disease, Boston Scientific Corporation  has received CE Mark and begun the European market launch of the Agent Paclitaxel-Coated PTCA Balloon Catheter.  The Agent Drug-Coated Balloon (DCB) provides physicians with an additional alternative to treat both in-stent restenosis (ISR) and de novo small vessel coronary disease.

Physicians in the U.S. who treat patients with multivessel coronary disease rarely turn to a hybrid approach for therapy. Over a two-year period, only 0.48 percent of CABG procedures included hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR), reported a study published online July 23 in Circulation.

We haven’t always spoken the same language in acute MI studies, researchers found when trying evaluate differences and changes to mortality in male and female patients using 46 years of data. The meta-analysis published online July 22 in Circulation found that study differences made comparisons difficult.