Sutureless aortic valve replacement (AVR) trumps conventional AVR and even early-generation transcatheter aortic valve replacement TAVR devices, according to two studies presented at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (Beverly, Massachusetts) annual meeting in Seattle.

If someone is blowing smoke up your butt today, it probably means they are feeding your ego with insincere compliments. But a few hundred years ago people literally blew smoke up other peoples’ keisters for a variety of medicinal purposes. This was the enlightening takeaway from a recent visit with my GI surgeon, Julius Bonello of Peoria, Illinois. Bonello wrote an article published in the December/January issue of History Magazine detailing the medical history of tobacco and an apparatus used to literally blow...

Recognizing the importance of planning and visualization for deep brain stimulation (DBS) procedures, Boston Scientific (Marlborough, Massachusetts) has turned to Brainlab (Munich Bavaria), a smaller firm that offers software-driven technology. The company said it will now distribute Brainlab's DBS surgical planning products with the Boston Scientific Vercise DBS system.

Two global trials published online in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) found that the addition of Medtronic's (Dublin) Solitaire stent thrombectomy procedure to current pharmaceutical treatment significantly reduced disability in patients suffering stroke. These trials confirmed the findings of three previous trials also published in NEJM, the company noted. Medtronic inherited the Solitaire device through its $42.9 billion Covidien acquisition.

In the past, pharmaceutical companies profited from a one-size-fits-all blockbuster drug model. Those days are on the decline and companies are slowly coming around to the idea that, in order to be more effective and save money, drugs have to be more personalized.

In the past, pharmaceutical companies profited from a one-size-fits-all blockbuster drug model. Those days are on the decline and pharmaceutical companies are slowly coming around to the idea that, in order to be more effective and save money, drugs have to be more personalized.

An FDA approval is always considered a win for the manufacturer, and often it is also seen as a win for the particular clinical space that the product is intended for. But once in a while, the coveted U.S. regulatory approval can be viewed as a win on an even larger scale. Jim Mazzo, chairman/CEO of AcuFocus (Irvine, California), told Medical Device Daily that this week's FDA approval of his company's Kamra inlay is an example of one of those occasions.