Medtronic (Minneapolis) reported the initiation of a randomized clinical trial in Europe to assess the benefits of ablation using the Medtronic Arctic Front Advance cryoballoon as a first-line treatment for atrial fibrillation patients. While medication is currently considered first-line treatment for AF, research indicates that half of all patients with symptomatic disease do not respond to drug therapy, the company noted, adding that earlier ablation may improve treatment effectiveness.

The J.P. Morgan Research team led by Mike Weinstein released its 2015 Top Picks for the medical device industry Tuesday, in advance of the firm's annual healthcare conference in San Francisco next week.

Just two days into 2015 and already it's been an eventful year for one regenerative medicine company, which rang in the new year by dropping a lawsuit on its competitor. MiMedx Group (Marietta, Georgia), a company that uses human amniotic tissue and processes to develop products for a variety of healthcare sectors, filed a federal lawsuit against Organogenesis(Canton, Massachusetts.

A device designed to be installed into a heart-lung machine and used intra-operatively during complex cardiac surgery in an effort to reduce post-operative complications may soon be making its way through the U.S. regulatory process.

In reviewing Medical Device Daily's top news stories and industry trends that emerged over the past year, it seems that 2014 was to the medical device industry what the popular Creole dish Jambalaya is to Louisiana — filling, flavorful, but perhaps just a bit too spicy for some taste buds. There were stories with meat, stories that added texture and stock, stories with spice, and stories that really stirred the pot. Some of the news MDD covered this year, like a certain $42.9 billion M&A and the industry's response to the Ebola outbreak, have already been brought to a boil, while trending stories like consolidation among orthopedic companies, continue to simmer.