Medical device giant St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) had high praise for its own quadripolar leads, saying that blow away any competition from older bipolar leads.
St. Jude cries victory with its quadripolar leads
European Society of Cardiology Congress
ESC 2013: Pacemakers set life expectancy back to normal, researchers say
A slow heart rhythm puts patients at risk of early death, but a cardiac implant may help reset those odds, according to a Dutch study presented this week at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Amsterdam.
A study of pacemakers in 23 Dutch hospitals found that devices implanted to treat slow heart rhythm helped restore normal life expectancy.
ESC 2012 Roundup: New heart care guidelines, TAVI studies and more
Women vs. men: Gender-based research at ESC 2012
Shock study calls into question decades of intra-aortic balloon counter-pulsation
Physicians and medical boards may have to reconsider decades of cardiogenic shock treatment after the highly anticipated IABP-Shock study found no significant benefit in using intra-aortic balloon pump therapy in heart attack patients.
TAVI at ESC 2012: Germans quickly adopt minimally invasive valve replacement
German doctors have adopted transcatheter aortic valve implantation faster than any other country, according to researchers attending the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich.
Analyses of the country’s German Aortic Valve Registry suggest that, although about half of all elderly patients are receiving TAVI therapy, doctors are primarily recommending the procedure for high-risk patients, as advised.
Mixed reactions to St. Jude’s latest Fame II stent study
St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) again touted results from its Fame II stenting study, reporting that patients who received percutaneous coronary intervention in addition to drug therapy were better off than patients who took drugs alone, but not all voices in the crowd were ready to accept the results.
ESC 2012: Renal denervation a “fountain of youth,” researchers say
This year’s European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany, hosted a fleet of new studies and technologies, but renal denervation hogged the spotlight with no less than 5 research teams presenting evidence of the healing powers of the nerve-deadening procedure.
Teams from Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Australia presented positive findings for renal denervation in treating hypertension better than drugs, improving physical and mental health and reducing stiffness in arteries.
Largest study yet confirms Abbott’s MitraClip in “real world” high-risk patients
Stents Wars: Abbott’s Xience V stent drug coating beats Boston Scientific’s Taxus DES
St. Jude’s Riata leads fare worse in Irish studies than in company reports
St. Jude Medical Inc.’s (NYSE:STJ) Riata family of leads have come under fire again for "insulation breaches" at rates much higher than first reported by the company in a 2010 warning letter.
In a small Irish study of 212 patients with Riata defibrillator leads, 15 percent had confirmed cases of lead wires poking through the silicone rubber insulating cables and making contact with tissue at an average of about 4 years after implantation.
