Matthew Gaythorpe, an 10-year-old Australian boy, has spent the last several weeks living a surprisingly normal life playing basketball and cricket and enjoying things that he hasn't always been able to enjoy. Gaythorpe, born with a rare kidney disorder that led to severe hypertension, recently became the first child to receive renal denervation treatment for severe, uncontrolled hypertension.

As Hurricane Sandy brushed past Miami Beach during the last day of the recent Transcatheter Cardiovascular Thereapeutics (TCT) meeting on its way up the East Coast, the release of data from two key patent formen ovale (PFO) clinical trials created a whirlwind of debate inside the convention center.

It was never a secret that Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts) wanted to dip its fingers into the strategically critical renal denervation pool – the company already has a renal denervation system in development with a CE mark planned for next year – but analysts and other industry watchdogs were a bit surprised Thursday morning when the company reported an agreement to acquire Vessix Vascular (Laguna Hills, California) for up to $425 million. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the month.

AirXpanders (Palo Alto, California), a company developing a new technology for women who require tissue expansion for breast reconstruction following a mastectomy, reported that preliminary data from two clinical studies support the use of the company's AeroForm tissue expander.

MIAMI BEACH — Medical technology companies love being the first up to bat with a new technology, as Edwards Lifesciences (Irvine, California) was with its Sapien valve in the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) space. But some would argue that it's better to be the first company to bring a second-generation device to the playing field.

MIAMI BEACH — A next-generation, micronet, mesh-covered stent demonstrated improved restoration of blood flow to the heart tissue compared to both bare-metal and drug-eluting stents in heart attack patients undergoing angioplasty, according to the MASTER trial presented for the first time this week at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting.

MIAMI BEACH — Wednesday afternoon was show and tell time for companies that make renal denervation devices. During a deep dive session at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Thereapeutics (TCT) meeting in Miami on the topic of renal denervation to treat resistant hypertension, representatives from numerous companies all had about six minutes each to tout their respective renal denervation tools.