Spectranetics (Colorado Springs, Colorado) reported receiving FDA clearance for its peripheral atherectomy products, Turbo-Tandem and Turbo Elite, for the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR). The company said that the clearance prompts a new standard of care in ISR treatment with improved clinical outcomes.

A post-market study gives credence to the DFINE (San Jose, California) Star tumor ablation system's ability to significantly reduce pain in late-stage cancer patients who suffer from extreme back pain due to spinal tumors. The multi-center study was published in the July/August issue of Pain Physician Journal, the official peer-reviewed publication of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (Paducah, Kentucky).

Despite the adoption rates of drug-eluting stents (DES), device makers haven't totally abandoned bare metal stents (BMS). One only has to look at Boston Scientific's (Natick, Massachusetts) most recent product approval as evidence.

When my father had a serious fall last month, I was tasked with playing a much larger role in his health. I had heard stories about people taking care of their parents - some were horror stories - but my particular story is turning out to be a bit different. That's mostly because of electronic health records - and a program that allows me to monitor my father's medications and make sure his prescriptions are up to date. The other part is because my father finally trusted me enough to see his passwords - but that's another story. But now...

There's a shift in thinking when it comes down to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Physicians are looking for ways to detect the neurological disease earlier, so that treatments can have a much stronger impact. NeuroVision Imaging (Sacramento, California) is in the process of developing a simple eye test that could possibly be able to detect changes associated with Alzheimer's disease.