NMT Medical Inc. (NSDQ:NMTI) managed to narrow its losses during the fourth quarter and full-year 2009, despite logging sales declines in both periods.

The Boston-based cardiac implant maker posted revenues of $3.6 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009, down 19.8 percent compared with $4.4 million during the same period in 2008. Fourth-quarter net losses were $1.9 million, down 54 percent compared with net losses of $4.2 million during Q4 2008.

For the full year, NMT posted revenues of $13.2 million, a 26 percent decline from the $17.9 million logged during the prior year. Net losses for 2009 were $12.4 million, down 31.2 percent compared with net losses of $18.1 million during 2008.

President and CEO Frank Martin said the company expanded the footprint of the BioStar bio-absorbable cardiac septal repair device it developed with Canton, Mass.-based Organogenesis outside North America, inking new distribution deals that have made the product available in 25 countries.

Martin also cited the impending conclusion of the Closure I trial of NMT‘s StarFlex implant, intended to demonstrate whether the the catheter-based procedure to patch small holes between chambers of the heart is more effective than standard drug treatments in preventing the re-occurrence of stroke. Data analysis from the two-year study is expected to begin in mid-April. Last month COO Rick Davis told MassDevice that regulatory applications would follow “provided the data is good;” in prepared remarks Martin said the company is targeting a third-quarter submission for pre-market approval from the Food & Drug Administration.

Davis said the company expects 2010 revenues to “increase modestly” over 2009, pending results from the Closure I trial.

NMT drummed up $5.8 million in a private placement of company stock in February, selling 2.7 million shares to a group of individual and institutional investors for $2.15 a share.