Covidien (Mansfield, Massachusetts) reported that the Solitaire FR revascularization device has been cleared by FDA. The device is intended to restore blood flow to the brain in patients suffering acute ischemic stroke by mechanically removing blood clots from blocked vessels.
Medical innovation is often more of a marathon than a sprint. That seems to be the case for Jarvik Heart (New York), a private company founded in 1988 by Robert Jarvik, MD, to conduct R&D on advanced concepts for miniature artificial hearts. The company recently reached an important checkpoint that brings it closer to the finish line - the line that would allow its artificial heart to be used as a permanent support for end-stage congestive heart failure patients who are not candidates for transplant.
To say that the potential size of the renal denervation pond is huge might be an understatement. With as much as a third of the world's population suffering from hypertension and a third or more of that population falling into the drug-resistant category it's no wonder physicians are excited about a new percutaneous catheter-based procedure aimed at helping those with resistant hypertension.
We already know that a picture is worth a thousand words, but did you know it might also be worth a thousand calories? A new smartphone application is being developed at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) to help the health and diet conscious track their caloric intake by taking a picture of their food. This caught my attention for two reasons: One, I’m sort of turning into a health-app junkie. I am currently tracking every bite of food, every visit to the bathroom, every headache, my sleep patterns, and my menstrual cycle. Oh yeah, and I check on my heart...
