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Accuray CEO Euan Thomson

Accuray CEO Euan Thomson discusses the finer points of robotic prostate cancer treatment and the motivation behind a head-to-head clinical trial pitting its CyberKnife radiosurgery system against Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci.

Sunshine Heart CEO David Rosa

In an exclusive podcast interview with MassDevice.com, Rosa told us about the company's beginnings, his optimism for the still-sluggish heart failure treatment landscape and why it's so important that patients can disconnect from Sunshine Heart's flagship, outside-the-bloodstream C-Pulse heart assist device.

Q&A: Philips Healthcare CEO Steve Rusckowski

In his last interview as CEO of Philips Healthcare before taking the corner office at Quest Diagnostics, Steve Rusckowski tells MassDevice why 2011 was a tough year for the world's 7th-largest medical device maker, why things are looking up this year and how innovation can go hand-in-hand with lower costs.

Photo Illustration of Gary Guthart and the da Vinci surgical system

MassDevice discusses innovation, robotic surgery and Silicon Valley culture with Intuitive Surgical CEO Gary Guthart.

Laptop with code and body

The threat that the fusion of humans and medical machines may leave patients vulnerable to the hackers and bugs of the digital world is beginning to resonate with device makers.

Medtronic and St. Jude battle it out on a new frontier: High blood pressure

May 16, 2012 by Arezu Sarvestani

Medtronic scoffs at St. Jude Medical's claims that its Enlightn renal denervation system lowers blood pressure faster than Medtronic's Symplicity, calling them "interesting" but merely "hypothesis-generating."

Medtronic logo
St. Jude Medical logo

Funding R&D: High prices, overuse a failed strategy

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice

By Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner

Much has been written about the travails of the pharmaceutical industry. Generic competition is reducing profitability as leading blockbuster drugs like Pfizer's Lipitor lose patent protection. Biotech generic competition is on the horizon.

EuroPCR: Disappearing stents and bioabsorbable polymers

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Disappearing stent technology makes waves at this year's EuroPCR conference in Paris, with Elixir Medial touting its fully bioabsorbable coronary scaffold and Terumo and Biotronik unveiling results for their stents with a bioerodable polymer coatings.

EuroPCR logo

Disappearing technology had a strong presence at this year's EuroPCR conference in Paris, with rival device makers demonstrating the safety and efficacy of their next-generation stents.

Elixir Medical unveiled 1st-in-man clinical results for its DESolve fully bioabsorbable drug-eluting scaffold system, a stent made from a proprietary polymer and coated in novolimus. The entire stent is designed to be absorbed by the body in 1-2 years.

EuroPCR: St. Jude's Enlightn lowers blood pressure faster than rival systems

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

St. Jude Medical's newly CE Marked Enlightn renal denervation system boasts twice the reduction in blood pressure after 1 month compared with rival technologies.

St. Jude Medical logo

St. Jude Medical's (NYSE:STJ) newly cleared Enlightn renal denervation system lowered patients' blood pressure by twice as much as rival systems in the same amount of time, according to a new study.

Preliminary findings from a study of the Enlightn system found that patients with hypertension saw a 28 point reduction in blood pressure after 30 days.

EuroPCR: Warnings on TAVI in replacing surgically implanted prosthetic valves

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation proves successful in reinforcing failed valve prosthetics, but researchers warn against making it a common practice.

EuroPCR logo

Although patients may benefit from having a failed aortic valve prosthetic reinforced via transcatheter aortic valve implantation, researchers warned against making the procedure a common practice.

EuroPCR: Medtronic touts clearances and findings for its stents and balloons

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Medtronic touts new clearances for its Resolute Integrity stent and clinical findings for its In.Pact balloons and hints of more studies to be revealed later this week at the EuroPCR conference in Paris.

EuroPCR

Medical device titan Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) touted a string of new indications for its Resolute Integrity drug-eluting stents at this year's EuroPCR meeting in Paris.

With new clearances in hand, the Resolute Integrity stent is now the DES with the broadest range of indications in Europe and the only DES on the market with indication for treating bifurcated lesions, according to a press release.

Weight loss: Surgery triggers rare metabolic wasting disease | MassDevice.com On Call

May 16, 2012 by MassDevice staff

A rare but deadly genetic mutation that prevents the body from absorbing protein can be set off by weight loss surgery.

MassDevice On Call

MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A rare genetic mutation that killed a weight loss surgery patient in Tennessee can be set off by weight loss surgeries like gastric bypass.

The disease, which causes the body to convert protein into ammonia, also causes the body to consume lean muscle when protein isn't eaten, creating a cruel cycle of spiking ammonia levels in the blood and anorexia-like weight loss.

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