Atherectomy devices play a key role in dealing with calcified coronary arteries. But a study presented at this year’s Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics demonstrates that angioplasty balloons made a lot of headway in this clinical area, potentially pushing atherectomy devices into the fringes of routine practice.
Some studies suggest a need for cardiologists to rethink their approach to device implant. However, the TAVR UNLOAD study failed to demonstrate a statistically significant difference between device implant and medical management for patients with aortic stenosis and low left ventricular ejection fraction.
The U.S. FDA’s approval of the Abbott Laboratories Triclip was predicated on a data set comprised of 350 patients, but an additional bolus of data seems to reinforce the rationale for the FDA approval, including improvements in quality of life.
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices continue to make a splash in the world of medical technology, with the Sapien 3 by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. leading the way. Results of the EARLY TAVR study strongly suggest a need for implant in asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis, a development that should help sustain and possibly increase sales of these devices for the next few years.
FDA commissioner Bob Califf made it his mission to counter medical and food product misinformation, and described the dilemma as an emergency at an Oct. 28 public meeting.
The Medical Information Working Group again took up a question regarding U.S. FDA-regulated speech, citing the agency’s new misinformation draft guidance as an example of a piecemeal approach to regulated speech.
Remote monitoring for patients with implanted cardiac electrophysiology devices may finally be coming of age in the U.K. thanks to a review of these systems by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
The U.K.'s Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has posted a series of draft new regulations that will increase the requirements for device makers doing business in the U.K. However, the agency has also floated a regulation for the production of pharmaceuticals at the point of care, a proposal MHRA said is the first of its kind.
The EU's regulatory crisis continues to roil relations between Brussels and stakeholders in the health care sector, and the European Parliament reacted with a message to the European Commission to revise the Medical Device Regulation.
In what seems a replay of concerns about technetium shortages from the 2010s, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee has called for a study of the availability of medical isotopes for U.S. citizens.
