Ultrasound cyclodestruction may not be the darling of American ophthalmologists and their patients dealing with glaucoma, but that may soon change thanks to a recent move by the U.S. FDA. The agency has down-classified these devices from class III to class II in a move that may prompt competition for current device-based methods of treating glaucoma, including widely used laser-based treatments.

U.S. Medicare coverage of transcatheter aortic valve replacement devices requires the use of team medicine for patient selection purposes, which seems to have served as a tripwire for Cape Cod Hospital (CCH) in Hyannis, Mass. Federal agencies forged an agreement with CCH that included a $24 million fine for failure to appropriately screen patients for the procedure, an event that serves as a reminder that non-compliance with Medicare rules can trigger enforcement actions by other agencies.

After Novosis Putty gained U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation of bio-fusion spine implantation device, South Korea’s Cgbio Co. Ltd. posted positive findings of similar ceramic bone graft, Novosis, to lay groundwork for U.S. market entry.

One-year data from the Notion-2 trial, which compared transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in younger low-risk patients with severe tricuspid or bicuspid aortic valve stenosis, showed little difference in clinical outcomes between the two procedures. The results were presented at the recent EuroPCR conference in Paris.

Pulsed field ablation dominated the news out of the Heart Rhythm Society meeting this week with three late-breaking studies highlighting the safety and efficacy of the technology replacing thermal ablation for treatment of atrial fibrillation and active discussion of the ‘unprecedented’ growth of these procedures. Boston Scientific Corp’s Farapulse is rapidly building dominance in the field, while results from Johnson & Johnson’s Varipulse study and Medtronic plc’s trial of the Affera system set up those companies for U.S. FDA approval later this year.