• Possis Medical(Minneapolis) said the FDA has cleared its 6 Fr DVX peripheral catheter to be labeled for breaking apart and removing thrombus from leg arteries greater than or equal to 3 mm in diameter. The DVX catheter features a redesigned tip that creates an enhanced and enlarged circulation pattern, resulting in significantly higher thrombus removal rates. The DVX catheter is intended to complement the existing 6 Fr Xpeedior peripheral catheter, which can be used for stand-alone thrombectomy as well as with the Power Pulse spray technique. The company said it would begin evaluations of the new DVX catheter at selected accounts to obtain customer feedback before a full commercial launch in the fourth fiscal quarter that ends July 31.

• Toshiba America Medical Systems (Tustin, California) said it demonstrated its 64-slice cardiac computed tomography (CT) performance of the Aquilion 64 CFX at the Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS; Houma, Louisiana). CIS is one of the largest heart centers for non-surgical and surgical treatment of both heart and vascular disease in the U.S. “Clearly, the Aquilion 64 CFX image quality and breath-hold of five to 10 seconds has its advantages,” said Peter Fail, MD, director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories and interventional research at CIS. “It has resulted in virtually all studies being of diagnostic quality. Prior to the Aquilion 64 CFX, only about 50% of past cardiovascular CT studies had the temporal resolution required to make a diagnosis.” He added: “Ultimately, the thinner slices and outstanding low-contrast resolution of the Aquilion 64 CFX will improve the sensitivity of plaque characterization algorithms.”

• Zimmer Holdings (Warsaw, Indiana) reported the commercialization of the first modular stemmed tibial prosthesis that can be assembled within the patient, making it more conducive to minimally invasive procedures. The NexGen Minimally Invasive Solutions (MIS) Tibial Component, which earlier this year was cleared for use in the U.S., was designed specifically for use in MIS procedures, although it also can be used in traditional surgical approaches for total knee arthroplasty. Zimmer Chairman, President and CEO Ray Elliott called the product “an industry first,” in that “total knee components [are] specifically designed to be assembled within the patient in order to further optimize minimally invasive total knee procedures.” The implant is designed to be used with all Zimmer MIS Total Knee Procedures and, the company said, is particularly well suited for use with the Zimmer MIS Quad-Sparing Total Knee Procedure, a technique designed to avoid the quadriceps tendon and muscles.