• AngioDynamics (Queensbury, New York) reported results from a U.S. preliminary study of Centros, a self-centering, tunneled hemodialysis access catheter. This study indicates that the self-centering catheter provides highly acceptable flow rates at modest negative pressure without deterioration in flow rate over seven weeks of use, even with tips positioned in the superior vena cava (SVC) rather than within the atrium. The study focused on end stage renal disease patients who were identified as having a need for tunneled catheters for dialysis and an open right internal jugular vein. Catheters were placed under local anesthesia, fluoroscopy and ultrasound guidance using a 16 Fr split sheath, and tips were in the lower third of the SVC, as opposed to the atrium. AngioDynamics makes devices used by interventional radiologists, nephrologists, and surgeons for the minimally invasive treatment of cancer and peripheral vascular disease.

• Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) reported the availability of an ultra-high-density microarray, Affymetrix-based technology (Whole-Genome Sampling Analysis). The offering continues the recent advances in LabCorp’s clinical genetics laboratory diagnostics. In 2005, LabCorp first offered the comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) based microarray diagnostics which focused on mental retardation and developmental delay. This targeted testing underscored the need for higher density whole genome coverage. The Affymetrix-based technology provides analysis of DNA copy number changes – identifying deletions, gene amplifications and loss of heterozygosity (LOH). LabCorp makes new diagnostic technologies.