The FDA has granted Respicardia, a company out of Minnetonka, Minnesota, approval to introduce its Remedē implantable sleep apnea treatment system. The Remedē treats sleep apnea by stimulating one of the phrenic nerves that regulates the activity of the diaphragm. People with central sleep apnea exhibit shallow breaths and/or pauses in breathing that can have a terrible effect on […]
Tag: Cardiology
Ascom Digistat Vitals: A New Offering to Record Patient Information at Bedside
Ascom, a Swiss firm, is releasing a new product designed to improve how clinicians record patient information into electronic medical records (EMR). The Digistat Vitals system relies on the dedicated Ascom Myco smartphone, or certain compatible Android phones, as the interface for data entry. A special app is used at the bedside to save vitals and […]
New Intravascular Catheter Views Plaques with Ultrasound and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
At University of California, Davis engineers managed to combine intravascular ultrasound with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) inside a single catheter. The combined imaging modalities provide a new look inside of arteries, offering both a morphological picture as well as one that gives insight into the composition of plaques. While cath-lab techniques are now commonly used […]
New Intravascular Catheter Views Plaques with Ultrasound and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
At University of California, Davis engineers managed to combine intravascular ultrasound with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm) inside a single catheter. The combined imaging modalities provide a new look inside of arteries, offering both a morphological picture as well as one that gives insight into the composition of plaques. While cath-lab techniques are now commonly used […]
Masimo’s Smaller, More Comfy RAS-45 Acoustic Respiration Sensor Released Globally
Masimo is now making fully available its RAS-45 acoustic respiration sensor that works with the company’s rainbow Acoustic Monitoring platform and that is compatible with both adult and pediatric patients. It performs the same as the RAS-125c sensor, but being considerably smaller and featuring a more flexible adhesive, it is easier to put on and more comfortable […]
New CardioFocus HeartLight Excalibur Balloon Cleared in Europe
CardioFocus, a company out of Marlborough, Massachusetts, won the European CE Mark to introduce its new HeartLight Excalibur Balloon for treatment of atrial fibrillation. The device is based on the company’s previously FDA approved HeartLight ablation system, but is designed to make procedures easier and faster by improving the compliance of the balloon and by being able […]
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, alleviating the natural heart […]
Low LDL Target, No Clinical Gain in Non-CAD Diabetes: EMPATHY
Statins aimed at reducing LDL-C to less than 70 mg/dL didn’t cut cardiovascular events, but an intriguing post hoc finding suggests there may yet be benefit, in this trial of patients with diabetic retinopathy. Medscape Medical News
Boston Scientific’s Resonate Cardiac Implants with HeartLogic Predict Adverse Events, Now FDA Approved
Boston Scientific won approval from the FDA and is launching its Resonate line of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D). The implants include the firm’s HeartLogic diagnostic capability that sends an alarm to the cardiologist if it believes the patient’s heart is exhibiting worse performance, which may lead to a serious event such as an […]
Abbott’s Ellipse ICD and Accompanying Leads Approved by FDA for MRI Scans
Abbott won its first FDA approval for a magnetic resonance-conditional labeling for one of its implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD), the Ellipse. Additionally, Tendril MRI pacing lead, as well as Durata and Optisure high voltage leads that are compatible with the Ellipse, are also approved to be safe inside an MRI machine as long as certain precautions are […]
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 right ventricle, with […]
Laser Monitors Mitochondria to Predict Cardiac Arrest
Researchers have developed a laser device that can tell in real time whether tissues in the body are receiving enough oxygen. The laser system relies on resonance Raman spectroscopy, and could help doctors to predict cardiac arrest, as low oxygen levels in heart muscle is a warning sign that the heart could stop pumping. “With current […]
Wireless, Handheld Ultrasound for iOS and Android: Interview with Laurent Pelissier, CEO of Clarius Mobile Health
Clarius Mobile Health, a Canadian firm, is a pioneering company specializing in portable solutions for ultrasound diagnostics. Since its debut, it has surprised and impressed us with its tiny portable ultrasounds. Clarius offers the only app-based, wireless ultrasound scanner that can be taken to the point of care even in the most rugged conditions. The […]
Masimo’s Slim and Portable Rad-97 Pulse CO-Oximeter FDA Cleared and Now Available
Masimo won FDA clearance and just announced full market release of its Rad-97 Pulse CO-Oximeter. It’s available as is, or with either a built-in blood pressure cuff or a capnography (CO2) attachments. The monitor comes with Masimo’s well established Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion SET pulse oximetry and its rainbow technologies. The device has a narrow, space saving […]
Hitachi’s Compact Supria True64 CT Scanner Cleared in U.S.
Hitachi has announced that the FDA granted the company clearance for its Supria True64 CT scanner. The device is designed to take less room in a busy clinical environment and to provide a 64-slice image quality using a 40 mm detector and 64 separate detector and electronics processing channels. Hitachi notes that many compact CT scanners […]
LessRay Radiation Reduction System for ORs Using Fluoroscopes
NuVasive, a company based in San Diego, California, is now making available its LessRay radiation dose-reduction system. It consists of a computer cart that connects to an operating room’s fluoroscopy system. The fluoroscope can be set to a lower level of X-ray exposure, and the LessRay, using its proprietary software algorithms, then corrects the image […]
Tiny Microchips Give Tracking Capabilities to Medical Devices Inside Body
As we develop a wide array of new implantable, injectable, and swallowable medical devices, the need to accurately track their location within the body becomes ever more critical. Currently, ultrasound, electromagnetism, and other methods are employed to track objects introduced into the body, but these modalities suffer from a number of imperfections that limit their […]
Smartphone Using Its Camera Can Assess Heart Health
A group of researchers in California has developed a smartphone app that can be used to evaluate some aspects of heart health, potentially replacing in some cases more complicated procedures like ultrasound or MRI. In patients with heart failure it is important for doctors to assess how effective the heart is at pumping blood around […]
HeartSciences MyoVista High Sensitivity ECG Now Available in Europe
HeartSciences, a firm based outside of Dallas, Texas, is releasing in Europe its MyoVista high sensitivity electrocardiograph (hsECG) device that helps to screen patients for cardiac disease. It relies on a mathematical method known as continuous wavelet transform to process ECG data in a manner very different than conventional ECG. The company compares the way its MyoVista’s […]
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 […]