Ultrasound companies, Caption Health Inc. and Ultromics Ltd. are linking up to jointly offer Caption’s AI software platform with Ultromics’ Echogo deep ultrasound analytics for cardiovascular disease detection.
Catheter-based delivery of replacement valves is established practice for patients with aortic regurgitation, but the mitral valve has only repair devices to address this condition. However, transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) devices by Dublin-based Medtronic plc., and triscupid valve replacement devices by Edwards Lifesciences Inc. of Irvine, Calif., made some noise at this year’s edition of Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), suggesting that these patients might soon have a wider range of options.
Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation has enjoyed an uneven reputation at best over the years, but the prospect of eliminating anti-arrhythmic drugs has proven difficult for both patients and clinicians to ignore. A new analysis of data from the Catheter Ablation vs. Antiarrhythmic Drug Therapy for Atrial Fibrillation (CABANA) study seems to answer the cost effectiveness question for ablation, however, representing yet another piece of evidence that should support increased sales of these devices in the coming years.
Acutus Medical Inc. appears to have solved one of the more vexing problems in cardiology, the sheer persistence of persistent atrial fibrillation despite treatment. In a study recently published in Heart Rhythm, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company demonstrated that 73% of patients undergoing ablation using the new pulmonary vein isolation plus core-to-boundary guided approach experienced acute termination of AF after one procedure, compared to 10% of patients undergoing ablation with the traditional posterior wall isolation approach.
The history of Medicare coverage of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices has not lacked for controversy despite the massive positive impact on outcomes. Ashwin Nathan, of Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, said a new analysis made clear that the expansion of centers qualified to perform TAVR procedures has been nearly all in high population density areas with an existing TAVR program, thus leaving out the still-forgotten rural patient.
The U.S. FDA has granted IDE approval to the cardiac device startup Foldax Inc., to initiate clinical testing of its Tria mitral surgical heart valve. Patient enrollment is expected to begin in early 2021.
