“Absorb” Approved; Bioresorbable, Drug-coated Stent to Roll Out “in a Phased Way”

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration approved Abbott's Absorb stent, the first fully dissolving stent to be approved by the FDA.

A 10-person FDA advisory panel, including Dr. George Vetrovec of Virginia Commonwealth University, voted unanimously in March to affirm that the stent's benefits and efficacy outweigh its risks. The same panel voted 9-1 in favor of its safety profile, despite the risk of blood clots for some patients.

"This is presumably a better technology going forward - at least that's the theory - but it will take years to prove," said Vetrovec to the Associated Press.

FDA approves Absorb with advisory panel warning

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Is heart failure over-diagnosed? and other stories

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

Is heart failure over-diagnosed?

A common problem in elderly men, obstructive uropathy, can look a lot like heart failure.

When pulmonary edema is present, heart failure is often the "scapegoat" says Melissa Walton-Shirley, MD in a commentary on Medscape. Approaching heart failure with "an air of skepticism" might help.

I've seen a handful of obstructive uropathy cases masquerading as heart failure in elderly men in recent years. I shudder to think how many times I've missed it. I suspect that it's not just men who suffer. Some of our female patients with "diastolic dysfunction" and overflow incontinence seem to suffer from backpressure that finds its way into the pulmonary vasculature.

Melissa Walton-Shirley, MD
Read more on Medscape.

NYU Langone tests new transcatheter device.

Continue reading Is heart failure over-diagnosed? and other stories

New cardiology-specific EHR & diagnostic software suite unveiled

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

In March, the Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS), a multi-center and high volume cardiology practice in Louisiana, completed system-wide implementation of a brand new cardiovascular information system.

The cardiovascular information system is a stage 2 meaningful use certified electronic health records (EHR) solution that comes complete with 15 diagnostic test suites across invasive and non-invasive cardiology.

The kicker for CIS? It was designed by two CIS cardiologists, Vinod Nair, MD and Peter Fail, MD with input from their entire team.

Nair and Fail are the chief officers of Objective Medical Systems (OMS) and recently unveiled their cardiology software suite at the American College of Cardiology's 65th Annual Scientific Session & Expo.

Frustrated with usability and workflow? Try specialty-specific.

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New Cardiac Imaging Technique Produces Higher Quality Images in Less Time

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

CMR

An innovation in cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging eliminates the need to correct images for respiratory motion, producing higher quality, more accurate images without waiting for patients to breathe.

Preliminary research presented at EuroCMR 2016 by Professor Juerg Schwitter, director of the Cardiac MR Centre at the University Hospital Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated how using a modified ventilator and small volumes of air, called "percussions," eliminated the need for patients to breathe during CMR.

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