Portable ultrasound technology is improving and becoming more affordable, allowing it to be used in places previously impossible due to size and cost. Full size ultrasound imagers can do some impressive stuff, such as creating 3D reconstructions obtained from 2D probes. Now researchers at Duke University are introducing incredibly cheap and easy to (Read more...)
Tag: Cardiac Surgery
University of Michigan’s Hybrid OR: High Tech Surgical Gadgetry Inside One Room
The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor sports one of the finest medical centers in America. We won’t even mention the football team. One of the reasons U of M’s clinics are at the forefront of what they do is because the university gives physicians the freedom to seek new ways of doing things. This […]
Medtronic’s HeartWare HVAD Heart Pump Approved for Rest of Life Use
Medtronic‘s HeartWare HVAD system, a left ventricular assist device, has been approved by the FDA as a “destination therapy” for those with advanced heart failure that cannot receive a transplanted heart. The HeartWare HVAD heart pump is a centrifugal flow device that augments blood from the left ventricle into the body, alleviati (Read more...)
Abiomed’s Impella RP First Percutaneous Heart Pump Indicated for Right Heart Failure
Abiomed won FDA approval for its Impella RP heart pump, the first percutaneous temporary ventricular support device indicated for right heart failure. The device moves blood from the inferior vena cava into the pulmonary artery, doing the work of the right ventricle. It’s inserted via the femoral vein and pushed up and through the r (Read more...)
AtriClip PRO•V Left Atrial Appendage Exclusion System Cleared by FDA, Now Available in U.S.
AtriCure, a firm based outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, is now making available in the United States its AtriClip PRO•V Left Atrial Appendage (LAA) Exclusion System. The device, used to occlude the LAA as necessitated by other open heart procedures, received FDA clearance in March of 2016. The LAA is a cul-de-sac where blood experi (Read more...)
CORolla, a New Device to Treat Diastolic Heart Failure
At the Rambam Health Care Campus in Israel, a new device has just been implanted for the first time in a patient with diastolic heart failure. The CORolla device from CorAssist Cardiovascular, a company based in Haifa, Israel, is designed to help the left ventricle open up to a greater volume during the diastolic filling […]
(Read more...)Abbott’s Latest Heart Pump FDA Approved
Abbott received FDA approval for its HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a pump designed to augment cardiac output in patients with severe heart failure that are waiting for their heart to recover or that are in line for a transplant. Featuring the “Full MagLev”, as the technology is called by Abbott, the HeartMate [&hell (Read more...)
HAART 200 Aortic Annuloplasty Device for Bicuspid Valve Repair FDA Cleared
BioStable Science & Engineering out of Austin, Texas won FDA clearance for its HAART 200 aortic annuloplasty device indicated for repair of congenital bicuspid aortic valve in patients with aortic valve insufficiency. A similar device, the HAART 300 for people with all three aortic valve leaflets, was cleared by the FDA earlier this y (Read more...)
Injectable Tissue Patch to Fix Broken Hearts
Scientists at the University of Toronto have developed a bandage-like patch that can be delivered into the heart through a needle, in combination with stem cells allowing for minimally invasive cardiac tissue repair, currently an impossible task. After a massive heart attack, myocardial tissue damage can significantly reduce the cardiac output. One (Read more...)
Medtronics New Avalus Pericardial Aortic Surgical Valve Approved in U.S. and Europe
Medtronic today announced FDA approval and European CE marking of the company’s Avalus pericardial aortic surgical valve. The device is currently the only stented surgical aortic valve that does not limit patients’ ability to undergo MRI scans, and whole body scans are allowed as there are absolutely no restrictions and no rel (Read more...)
Medtronic CoreValve Evolut PRO TAVR Valve Cleared in Europe
Medtronic won the European CE Mark and is introducing its CoreValve Evolut PRO transcatheter aortic valve in Europe for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are considered at intermediate, high, or extreme risk of not doing well from an open heart surgery. The Evolut PRO features an external porcine pericardial tissue wrap that helps (Read more...)
Medtronic’s CoreValve Evolut Transcatheter Aortic Valves Now Approved for Intermediate Risk Patients
Medtronic has announced that its CoreValve Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement platform, consisting of CoreValve, CoreValve Evolut R, CoreValve Evolut PRO, is now FDA approved for patients with “symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who are at an intermediate risk for open-heart surgery.” Previously, the products were o (Read more...)
Edwards INSPIRIS RESILIA Aortic Valve Now Approved in U.S.A.
Edwards Lifesciences has announced that the FDA has issued approval for its INSPIRIS RESILIA prosthetic aortic valve, which is based on the popular Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT device. Cleared in Europe just under a year ago, the INSPIRIS RESILIA features flaps made from RESILIA material, a tissue developed by Edwards that helps maintain the i (Read more...)
3D Printed Patient Cardiovascular Anatomy to Guide Replacement Heart Valves
In cases of heart valve replacements, surgeons have different sizes and options to choose from, each prosthetic device having its unique qualities and limitations. Predicting the best replacement heart valve for patient’s specific morphology may soon be easier to figure out thanks to the use of 3D printing. Researchers at Georgia Tech are pri (Read more...)
Calon Cardio’s MiniVAD Left Ventricluar Assist Device Set for 2018 Clinical Trials
Working with the University of Swansea, Calon Cardio, a Welsh firm, has created the first UK-developed Left Ventricluar Assist Device (LVAD). The MiniVAD is scheduled to begin a 50 patient clinical trial in late 2018, with a full clinical rollout planned for 2020. Calon Cardio’s miniature implantable heart pump is used to treat advanced (Read more...)
Pulsed High Intensity Ultrasound Removes Calcified Buildup from Prosthetic Heart Valves
Prosthetic heart valves that fit inside failed natural valves have now been used for years to treat thousands of patients. As time passes following implantation, the man-made valves tend to accumulate calcified debris over their leaflets. This slowly degrades their functionality and eventually requires revision procedures that may involve repl (Read more...)
Third Pole’s On-Demand Portable iNO: Interview with Dr. Warren Zapol
Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) relaxes blood vessels in the lungs and is an important and life-saving treatment for pulmonary hypertension. Current iNO delivery solutions are estimated to cost $2,800 per day and rely on compressed gas delivery which limits accessibility and applicability of this technology worldwide. Dr. Warren Zapol and team, led (Read more...)
Edwards SAPIEN 3 Cardiac Valve FDA Approved for Mitral and Aortic Valve-in-Valve Procedures
Edwards Lifesciences received FDA approval for its SAPIEN 3 transcatheter prosthetic heart valve to be used for valve-in-valve procedures. Indicated for placement within both the aortic and mitral valves in patients at risk of undergoing open heart surgery to remove an existing valve, the SAPIEN 3 can reside within a previously implanted biopr (Read more...)
Sentinel Cerebral Protection System for Preventing Strokes During Transcatheter Valve Repairs Cleared by FDA
While transcatheter aortic valve repair (TAVR) procedures can help avoid open heart surgeries in many fragile patients, there is a substantial risk that embolic debris is released from the calcified valves. The brain is particularly in danger, as the dislodged material can block blood vessels feeding it and result in strokes. Claret Medic (Read more...)
3D Printed Pediatric Stents That Grow With Patient’s Vessels
Sadly, it is not only old people that receive cardiac stent implants. Often young children with certain cardiovascular conditions can benefit significantly from stent implantations and conduits, but because vasculature grows along with the rest of the body, the stents’ benefits can be short lived and not fully realized. Now researchers at&nbs (Read more...)