The markets for ventricular assist devices (VADs) and intraortic balloon pumps (IABPs) are hardly littered with competition, but the few companies that work in these two device categories have faced seemingly routine recalls over the past couple of years. The U.S. FDA recently reported yet another round of class I recalls for a single model in both Abiomed Inc.’s Impella line of VADs and Datascope Corp.’s Cardiosave line of IABPs, but the agency’s apparent unwillingness to force either manufacturer to withdraw any of these recalled products seems to suggest that product shortages would quickly follow any such move on the FDA’s part.
Cathvision ApS received U.S. FDA clearance for two artificial intelligence (AI) models, the PVI Analyzer, and Signal Complexity, which are part of a suite of algorithms designed to help electrophysiologists improve the diagnosis and treatment of complex atrial arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation. The two algorithms are part of Cathvision’s Cardialytics suite of AI-powered analytics integrated into its Ecgenius system, an electrophysiology recording system that helps with electrogram interpretation.
Fractyl Health Inc. reported clinical updates on the Revita real world registry in Germany which has demonstrated clinical remission from type 2 diabetes (T2D) employing a device that resurfaces the duodenal mucosa, the innermost layer of the first portion of the small intestine, and a potential root cause of T2D.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) might not be the talk of the town in the world of cardiology medical devices, but the condition has a devastating effect on a large number of lives, particularly in the case of early disease onset. San Francisco-based Viz.ai Inc. has won a de novo from the U.S. FDA for its algorithm for identification of patients at risk of HCM, the aptly named Viz HCM, a product the company believes will not only save lives but may save the U.S. health care system a large amount of money as well.
The $31.4 million investment Capstan Medical Inc. recently received in its Series B funding round will allow the company to make headway in its efforts to use a catheter-based, robotic delivery platform to treat patients with mitral and tricuspid valve disease. With heart disease a leading cause of death globally and cardiac procedures remaining highly invasive and filled with complications, Capstan is working to provide patients with safer, less invasive alternative.
Acorai AB received a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its Heart Monitor, a noninvasive intracardiac pressure monitoring device for patients with heart failure. The Acorai Heart Monitor can estimate diastolic pulmonary artery pressure, systolic pulmonary artery pressure and mean pulmonary artery pressure in patients with Stage C heart failure who have been referred for hemodynamic monitoring.
Lush vegetation is great for a gardener, but alarming for a cardiologist. For them, the news that Angiodynamics Inc. received U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for its Angiovac system to remove vegetation from the right heart is surely cheering. Right heart vegetations--masses of fibrin, platelets and infectious pathogens--are indications of serious infective endocarditis.
Boston Scientific Corp. has managed its Polarx device to another regulatory approval, this time a nod from the U.S. FDA, giving the company access to one of the world's premier markets. The news comes four months after the company obtained a CE mark for the device, opening the door to two jumbo markets in a move the company hopes will ensure the device will provide solid returns on its investment.
Peijia Medical Co. Ltd. reported the implant of its Taurustrio transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system in a first patient as part of a multi-center trial getting one step closer to launching the first TAVR system for aortic regurgitation (AR) in China.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices are all the rage for treatment of aortic valve disease, but that doesn’t mean valve reconstruction via the so-called Ozaki procedure has been consigned to the pages of medical history. The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended that trusts in the U.K. health system use this procedure only in clinical trials at least for the time being, although the agency noted that the Ozaki procedure allows the patient to sidestep the need for long-term antithrombotic therapy, a big selling point for patients and clinicians alike.
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