Editorial
Editorial
Dear readers, Better management practices can have a profoundly positive impact on the efficiency of any medical department. An exchange of management information and experiences will inevitably allow for a more efficient and patient-orientated provision of services, as well as a more informed medical team. While at a general hospital level, management awareness is more clearly evident, cardiologists...
Exhibitors @ RSNA 2010
Cordis Appoints New Vice-President of Microelectronic Technologies
Cordis Corporation has announced the appointment of Joseph M. Smith, M.D., Ph.D. to Vice President, Microelectronic Technologies. Dr. Smith will lead the company’s efforts to develop implantable microelectronic technologies in the management of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Smith brings more than 25 years experience in cardiac rhythm management (CRM) to Cordis Corporation. Most recently, he served as Senior...
Cardio Dynamics Gains Support for Vermed Sale
CardioDynamics International has reported that it is progressing with its shareholders’ approval for the sale of its Vermed business unit. The company reached an agreement to sell the Vermed unit to the subsidiary's management team for a cash purchase price of $8 million in late June this year. Vermed is a supplier of disposable electrodes and related supplies utilised in electrocardiograph (ECG) and oth...
ISHR/Servier Research Fellowship Winner Announced
The ISHR-ES SERVIER Research Fellowship has been presented to Dr Marta Roccio, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Cardiology and Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Dr Roccio's project is titled: "Molecular mechanisms of cardiac progenitor cells differentiation". This 20,000 Euro grant is offered for the sixth time by SERVIER in partnership...
First Patient Enrolled in Clinical Trial to Study Drug Sluting Stent Treatment in Women
Abbott has announced that the first patient was enrolled in its Xience V Spirit Women clinical trial, the world’s first clinical trial designed to study the safety and effectiveness of drug eluting stent treatment in women. Liliana Grinfeld, M.D., of the Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires, Argentina, performed the first procedure. The goal of the trial is to increase understanding of how heart disease affe...
Medtronic Announces European Introduction of Cardiac Monitor
Medtronic has announced the European introduction of Reveal® XT, the first Insertable Cardiac Monitor that offers longterm and continuous monitoring of Atrial Fibrillation (AF). All other current monitoring tools are either for a limited period or on an intermittent basis. Longterm, continuous monitoring means that a clinician no longer needs to rely only on incomplete data to evaluate how AF may be progre...
Millar Launches World's Smallest Sensor Tip Pressure-Volume Catheter
Millar Instruments, developer and manufacturer of Mikro-Tip® pressure transducer catheters and pressure-volume (P-V) systems, today announced the expansion of its French catheter line with the introduction of the PVR-1045 pressure-volume catheter. With a catheter tip size of 1F (1/3 mm), the PVR-1045 is the smallest and least invasive sensor tip pressure-volume catheter available on the market. The smalle...
Boston Scientific to Explore Sale of Cardiac & Vascular Surgery Businesses
Boston Scientific announced it intends to explore the sale of its cardiac surgery and vascular surgery businesses as part of its plan to review its portfolio of assets and divest those considered nonstrategic, and to strengthen its operating and financial performance. Paul LaViolette, chief operating officer of Boston Scientific noted that if finalised, the sale will support the company’s efforts to focus...
Sanofi-Aventis Announces Approval of Labelling Update of Acomplia® in Europe
Sanofi-Aventis announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), after re-evaluation, confirms the positive benefit-risk profile of rimonabant in the indicated patient population and has issued a positive opinion on the labelling update. Acomplia® labelling has been updated based on data reflecting one year of post-marketing experience mainly from Germany, France and the UK, as well...
Schering-Plough Corporation Prices Public 0ffering
Schering-Plough Corporation has announced that it priced its registered public offering of 50,000,000 common shares at $27.50 per share. The underwriters have an option to purchase up to an additional 7,500,000 common shares from Schering- Plough. Schering-Plough also announced that it has concurrently priced its registered public offering of 10,000,000 shares of its 6.00% mandatory convertible preferred st...
Cardiatis Completes Stent Trial Recruitment
Cardiatis of Brussels, Belgium, has completed recruitment of patients into its first-in-man European clinical trial of its FluidSmart 3D multilayer braided stent for repairing aneurysms. Patient recruitment, which began in December last year, culminates four years of extensive concept testing that demonstrated the ability of the 3D multilayer stent to repair aneurysms endovascularly without the need for coi...
Cover Story: Improving Clinical & Economic Effectiveness
Use of Telemonitoring in Chronic Heart Failure:Improving Clinical and Economical Effectiveness
Multiple hospital admissions for acute decompensation are characteristic for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients, deleteriously affecting their quality of life and imposing a major burden on national healthcare costs. The direct costs of CHF-related hospitalisations amount to 2.7 billion Euro per year. Due to the demographic evolution of European societies, the number of hospitalisations is likely to f...
Features
Emerging Technology for Personalised Cardiovascular Risk Prediction: Preventing & Managing CVD
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for half of all deaths in Europe every year and 25% of chronic disease burden. Aside from the direct effects on human health and welfare CVD costs the European economy over €169 billion per year. The scale of the problem in human and fiscal terms means that urgent action is required to reduce the CVD burden in the population.Who is at Risk? At one end of the s...
Handheld Echocardiography: Easy as Child’s Play?
Portable echocardiography has the capacity to identify defects with comparable accuracy to standard machines, to change diagnoses and treatment and has facilitated early discharge in up to 50% of patients. While these figures may depend on the nature and profile of the patients screened and the skills available, in principal it validates the increased potential for patient care. This article discusses the...
Cardiology Requirements for PACS: Defining Future Needs
The Robert Bosch Krankenhaus was opened in 1973 and has created a worldwide reputation in medical and surgical care, for pioneering the practical application of innovative IT solutions to improve healthcare delivery. In my position as "Oberarzt", a function that is somewhere between consultant and registrar, I am responsible for our ten-bed intensive care unit, in particular our Cardiac Magnetic Resonance...
Live 3D Ultrasound Solutions: Accuracy Key for Improved Heart Failure Management
Heart failure, the inability of the heart to pump sufficient blood to meet the metabolic demand of the body, impacts millions worldwide every year. Implications of heart failure are broad and have become a tremendous economic burden. Worldwide, heart failure affects nearly 23 million patients. In Europe, nearly 14 million people suffer from heart failure, a number that is expected to reach 30 million by 20...
An Innovative Wireless Telecardiological Monitoring System
Heart-related diseases and disorders are abundant in the western world. Around 500,000 cases of sudden cardiac death, over three million patients with atrial fibrillation and about 600,000 heart attacks are a significant factor in the cost structure of the European healthcare system every year.The Need for a Cardiological Home Monitoring System Effective therapy in this area is usually no longer the proble...