Yesterday, I arrived at the Land of Make-Believe: The 2011 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.
American College of Cardiology Conference (ACC)
ACC 2011: Edwards’ Sapien valve beats open heart surgery on survival rates and cost
Edwards Lifesciences Inc. (NYSE:EW) is highlighting a pair of studies on its Sapien transcatheter aortic-valve implantation technology suggesting that the device is cheaper and more effective than traditional open heart surgery.
Results from the PARTNER cohort A trial, which compared Sapien with surgery for severe aortic stenosis, showed that Edwards technology is “non-inferior” to aortic-valve replacement in mortality rate.
ACC 2011: Abbott’s MitraClip safer but less effective than open heart surgery
A study comparing Abbott’s (NYSE:ABT) MitraClip and open heart surgery for mitral valve repair showed that the device was less effective but safer than surgery.
Analysis of one-year and some two-year results of the Everest II study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the 60th annual meeting of the scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans, analyzed the data based on the initial treatment intent for the subjects, instead of the treatment they eventually got.