MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s long-running battle with heart disease also traces the evolution of cardiovascular medical technologies.

The New York Times traced Cheney’s heart history as it correlated to important milestones in medicine, from his 1st heart attack at age 37 to the heart transplant he received last month.

Cheney was one of the relatively early recipients of quadruple bypass surgery in 1988 and a cardiac stent in 2000.

He’s also had angioplasty to clear his coronary arteries and was previously a combination pacemaker defibrillator to protect against abnormal heart rhythms, according to the paper.

Medtronic expands in Montreal

Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT) CryoCath subsidiary announced a $50 million expansion in Montreal, Canada, with the expectation of 200 new jobs there, The Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Early drug-eluting stents exhibit late issues, study finds

Although newer drug-eluting stent have recently surpassed their bare metal forebears in measures of safety and effectiveness, a new study found that 1st-generation DES posed late risks of stent thrombosis and reinfarction BMS, MedPageToday.com reported

Robot-assisted prostate cancer surgery meets, even beats open or laparoscopic surgery

In the 1st large meta-analysis to consider 3 types of prostate cancer surgery, robot-assisted surgery proved "at least as good, if not better, than the other two techniques used for a radical prostatectomy – open or laparoscopic surgery," according to a Cornell University press release.

Illumina launches MyGenome iPad app

Illumina’s (NSDQ:ILMN) long-awaited MyGenome iPad app, which promises to allow users to review their own genomes, hit the Apple iTunes store today, at a price of 99¢, MobiHealthNews.com reported.