The Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (SCVIR; Fairfax, Virginia) has dropped "Cardiovascular" from its name and is now the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR). While dropping the word from its name, the group isn't abandoning its work in the cardiovascular arena, said Curtis Bakal, MD, MPH, immediate past president of the organization, but rather is only attempting to better define the broad range of procedures that interventionalists perform. The new name was approved at last month's annual meeting of the group in Baltimore, Maryland. The change required at least a two-thirds vote, and the organization said that "well over" that majority voted its approval.

"[W]e aren't giving up our stake in cardiac or vascular work but broadening the scope of what we do to carry us into the future and to help firm up our distinct identity," Bakal said in a statement. Diane Schnitzler, head of communications for the group, said that there was "some confusion with the [previous] name" and the change "does not mean an identity crisis." She added, "What we found was that most people that aren't familiar with interventional radiology got stuck on the first word and think we're cardiologists. We're really trying to simplify the name and make it easier for people to remember," she told Cardiovascular Device Update's sister publication, Medical Device Daily.

The organization was formed in the early 1970s as the Society for Cardiovascular Radiology, the name then indicating a clear focus in the cardiovascular arena. With the expansion into a great many other sectors of interventional procedures, the name was then changed to the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society in the mid-1980s. While procedural volume in the field has continued to grow, Schnitzler said that interventional radiology has tended to remain "the best-kept secret in the hospital," with many physicians and health care workers still not always understanding what interventional radiologists do.

What they do, in general terms, is to combine the use of standard diagnostic radiological procedures with interventional approaches, primarily the threading of catheters to the therapeutic site where the procedure is performed. As demonstrated by the research presented at the annual conference those procedures can range from the treatment of uterine fibroids via embolization to the repair of heart defects. Schnitzler said that the low profile of interventional radiology actually has worked as a benefit since interventional radiologists tend to have the most difficult patient cases referred to them, forcing them to develop increasingly innovative techniques and procedures.

The organization's incoming president is Michael Darcy, MD, of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri). Darcy put the name change in matter-of-fact marketing terms. "Better branding," he told MDD, "is crucial."

Lewin study supports MedCath

MedCath (Charlotte, North Carolina) has released a report developed by The Lewin Group (Falls Church, Virginia), which says that MedCath's specialty heart hospitals provide higher-quality outcomes than peer community hospitals across the country. Titled "A Comparative Study of Patient Severity, Quality of Care and Community Impact at MedCath Heart Hospitals," the study compared Medicare data for the MedCath hospitals against that of 946 community hospitals. The report concluded that the MedCath hospitals have a case mix of more severe and more complex cardiac cases, exhibit a 12.1% lower in-hospital mortality rate on a risk-adjusted basis, discharge a higher proportion of patients to their homes (89.6% vs. 72.4%) and transfer a lower proportion of patients to other facilities or home health agencies. The last of these findings, the report said, "may imply reduced aggregate Medicare expenditures for patients treated in MedCath facilities as compared to the peer group."

MedCath owns and operates eight heart hospitals with a total of 460 licensed beds, located in Arizona, Arkansas, California, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas. David Crane, president and CEO, said that a key reason for the survey's positive results is the company's strategy of providing for direct involvement by physicians in all aspects of hospital operations. "We believe that the involvement of our physician partners in the governance and day-to-day operations of our heart hospitals is a critical factor that contributes to high quality patient care," he said.

He added that the Lewin report offers "further evidence that the MedCath model is working to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care. We believe data from reports such as this will continue to provide guidance to the entire health care community, helping to raise the bar for cardiovascular care across the nation."

MedCath provides cardiovascular care services in diagnostic and therapeutic facilities in seven states and through mobile cardiac catheterization laboratories. It contracted with The Lewin Group to conduct the study, which included a review of data from hospitals across the country that perform open heart surgery. The study analyzed fiscal year 2000 MedPAR data using an APR-DRG cardiac case mix index. The Lewin Group is a unit of Quintiles Transnational (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina). In addition to the hospitals already in operation, MedCath has begun developing hospitals in Harlingen, Texas; the North Shore region of New Orleans, Louisiana; San Antonio, Texas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Lafayette, Louisiana.

Edwards to buy Japan joint venture

As part of its recent quarterly report, Edwards Lifesciences (Irvine, California) said it has agreed to exercise its option to acquire the Japan-based cardiovascular business of Baxter International (Deerfield, Illinois) by the end of the year for about $25 million. The business has been operating under a joint venture agreement since Edwards' spin-off from Baxter in April 2000. Michael Mussallem, Edwards chairman and CEO, said that the venture provisions "would say that it could sunset as soon as 26 months after spin, meaning August of this year, but must be exercised 60 months after spin. We are anxious to have this become a fully consolidated part of Edwards."

He added that Edwards garners essentially all of the Japanese business's income into its profit and loss (P&L) statement, but the company accounts for a good portion through its equity. Edwards will begin reporting the results of the Japanese unit on a consolidated basis when the deal is complete. "Once we exercise this, we'll have all of the Japanese sales and with all of its attended gross profit and expenses through our P&L," he said, adding, "Starting in 2003, there will be substantial sales that get added to the P&L of Edwards." The Japan business recorded 2001 sales of about $170 million, of which $62 million was included in Edwards' operating results. The transaction, still subject to various approvals, is not expected to materially impact the company's net income as the terms of the existing joint venture agreement enable Edwards to record substantially all of the net profit generated by the Japan business.

Edwards is focused on developing products for heart valve disease, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease and congestive heart failure.

Vascular Solutions acquires Acolysis system

Vascular Solutions (Minneapolis, Minnesota) acquired the Acolysis intravascular ultrasound business from the secured creditors of Angiosonics (Morrisville, North Carolina) for $1.5 million in cash. The Acolysis system is a CE-marked product that uses a generator and disposable intravascular probe to deliver ultrasound waves to lyse blood clots and plaque in peripheral and coronary arteries, with cumulative sales in excess of $2 million.

"We are impressed with the substantial early international clinical experience of the product for treating peripheral occlusions as well as the potential future applications of the ultrasound technology in interventional cardiology and throughout interventional medicine," Vascular CEO Howard Root said. "This acquisition clearly fits into our plan of acquiring additional interventional products that we can efficiently bring to our existing customer base through our existing distribution system."

The acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase of assets and technology in 2Q02. Some $500,000 of the acquisition price is expected to be allocated to the assets acquired in the transaction, with the remainder to be amortized over the useful life of the intangible assets.

Vascular is forecasting Acolysis sales at between $200,000 and $500,000 for the remainder of 2002, and approximately $1 million for 2003, all from international markets. The company expects to take between two and three years to complete the clinical evaluations for U.S. commercialization.

Vascular Solutions is an interventional medical device company with a focus on sealing devices.

MTI moving to new Japanese distributor

Micro Therapeutics (MTI; Irvine, California) said it will switch to a dedicated sales force from ev3 International to distribute all MTI interventional neuro and peripheral vascular products in Japan beginning April 1, 2003. Century Medical will remain the exclusive distributor of MTI products in Japan through March 31, 2003. MTI said it believes its interests in Japan are best served by ev3 International, which launched operations for marketing and sales of MTI's products in Europe.

MTI will pay Century Medical a termination fee of up to $1.5 million, based on milestones that Century must achieve by March 31, 2003. Additional terms include MTI's repurchase of inventory on hand at Century Medical at the end of the term for an aggregate amount not to exceed $150,000.

Escrow funds released

CardioTech International (Woburn, Massachusetts) said it was released from an escrow arrangement related to the sale of its former wholly owned UK subsidiary, CardioTech International Ltd., renamed Credent Vascular Technologies Ltd. The amount released included the original $700,000 cash, plus accrued interest of $30,000. CardioTech is developing a polyurethane-based vascular graft for the treatment of coronary artery disease and also produces medical grade polyurethanes for use in implantable medical devices and other applications, and manufactures disposable medical devices on an OEM basis.