• Iridex (Mountain View, California) reported a "significant" clinical benefit in a subset of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treated with the transpupillary thermotherapy (TTT) laser protocol when compared to the sham-treated control group in the TTT4CNV Clinical Trial. The results showed that in a subgroup of patients with baseline visual acuity of 20/100 or worse, 22% of treated eyes improved vision by one or more lines compared with none of the eyes in the untreated control group. Furthermore, at 18 months, there was a two-line benefit in preserving vision in this subgroup when compared to sham-treated eyes. Specifically, TTT-treated eyes on average lost two lines of visual acuity while sham-treated eyes lost four lines. Dr. Elias Reichel, study chairman and associate professor of ophthalmology at the New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine (Boston), was scheduled to present the results at The Macula Society meeting in Key Biscayne, Florida. The TTT4CNV Clinical Trial is a multi-center, prospective, double-masked, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted at 22 centers in the U.S.

• Karl Storz (Culver City, California) has launched its Telecam DX II camera control unit (CCU) to address the market for office-based video endoscopy systems. The company said the Telecam DX II CCU enables physicians to provide high-quality patient care while maintaining cost efficiency. It said the new system is well-suited to ob/gyn, urology and ear, nose and throat practices. The DX II has been designed to enhance image quality, adaptability and the degree of control the physician has over the system. It relies on fiberscope filters to remove moire patterns and pixelation from images generated by flexible telescope scopes. Precise auto-exposure and brightness control are used to maximize the quality of every image. Interchangeable adapters for the Telecam DX II are available in 12 mm, 25 mm, 30 mm and 38 mm focal lengths. Programmable buttons enable control over as many as four camera functions directly from the camera head. The system's freeze-frame capability allows the physician to freeze images for discussion with patients or colleagues or for diagnostic interpretation.

• LMS Medical Systems (Montreal), developer of the Computer Assisted Labor Management (CALM) system, said it has received FDA clearance to market Patterns, a new decision support software tool directed at the health of the fetus. Fetal distress during labor is one of the greatest complexities of childbirth and a significant issue in so far as risk management is concerned. Patterns provide real-time detection, classification and labeling of fetal heart rate patterns. The company said better assessment of fetal distress may reduce the incidence and severity of birth-related brain damage. Patterns can be used in a stand-alone fashion or as an integrated module of the LMS Clinical Information System. It also may be used in a medical practitioner's office as an assessment tool during the final stages of high-risk pregnancy for cases. Initial availability of the product is scheduled for 3Q05.

• Medical Services International (MSI; Edmonton, Alberta) reported that it has developed a rapid test kit for malaria and that it has finished all preliminary testing of the VScan Malaria test kit. Test results show that the kit is accurate (greater than 99% of the time), easy to use and gives results in under 20 minutes. The company said it has begun submitting the malaria test kit to regulatory authorities for approval in two countries and will be submitting it for approval in another nine countries within the next 60 days. MSI said that, based on the test results of the Vscan Malaria kit and the excellent test results of its other test kits, it expects to receive regulatory approval reasonably quickly. The company said that early diagnosis of malaria means that the disease can be treated before it becomes severe and poses a risk to a patient's life.

• Medtronic (Minneapolis) reported the European introductions of the EnRhythm dual-chamber pacemaker and EnTrust implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in single- and dual-chamber versions. The company received the CE mark for the devices on Feb. 4. Medtronic said the products incorporate several features that provide important patient benefits, including an innovative pacing mode called Managed Ventricular Pacing, or MVP, available in the dual-chamber EnRhythm and EnTrust devices. The EnRhythm device is the first pacemaker to include MVP, which Medtronic first introduced in its Intrinsic ICD last year. The company said MVP promotes natural heart activity by "significantly reducing" unnecessary pacing in the heart's lower right chamber and automatically switching to pace the upper right chamber when normal heart conduction is present. With the MVP mode, automatic switching between dual-chamber pacing and single-chamber atrial pacing can reduce the amount of ventricular pacing to less than 5%, compared to 50% or more with typical dual-chamber pacing, according to Medtronic. The company said a key feature of the EnTrust devices is its exclusive ATP During Charging, an advancement of anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP). ATP uses pacing pulses to painlessly terminate fast, dangerous heart rhythms originating in the ventricle. ATP During Charging enables the use of ATP while the EnTrust capacitor charges to prepare for the possible delivery of a high-energy shock if needed. The EnRhythm pacemaker and EnTrust ICDs also offer Reactive ATP, a feature enabling the devices to continually search for opportunities to restore a patient's normal sinus rhythm during long, fast heart rhythm episodes in the atrium. Additionally, enhanced diagnostics in these devices provide comprehensive information to assist physicians in the diagnosis of additional types of heart rhythm problems, especially in the atrium.