RADI Medical Systems announced improvements to their latest generation pressure-sensing guidewire, PressureWire® Certus, which will begin shipments immediately.

The latest generation of the PressureWire Certus features a new, ergonomically designed proximal connector which provides three key advantages for physicians. The new large entry funnel allows for fast and easy wire reconnection into the proximal connector, while also exhibiting less insertion friction. In addition, the new locking cap provides positive reinforcement when the wire and the connector are locked in place via a user-

The common practice of administering heparin soon after cardioembolic stroke is associated with an increased risk for serious bleeding, according to an article posted online that will appear in the September 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, it appears that anticoagulation with warfarin therapy may safely begin shortly after stroke.

Cardioembolic stroke, in which blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a clot or other substance originating within the heart, accounts for 20 percent of ischemic strokes. Current guidelines do not recomme

Vascular Solutions, Inc. recently launched the Axis Wire, a 0.035” specialty guidewire that combines an extra stiff proximal shaft with a long super-floppy distal tip. The Axis Wire is designed to offer the benefits of easy delivery combined with the protection of an atraumatic tip. Its heavy-duty proximal shaft provides support and pushability for device delivery, while its highly flexible and long distal tip facilitates atraumatic access and device placement. The coils of the Axis wire are pre-coated with a smooth PTFE coating. The Axis Wire is available in the United States in a 90cm len

Although acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is rare in women of child-bearing age, pregnancy can increase a woman’s risk of heart attack 3- to 4-fold, according to a study published in the July 15, 2008, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Since women today may delay having children until later in life, and advances in reproductive medicine enable older women to conceive, the occurrence of AMI associated with pregnancy is expected to increase.

The study, authored by Arie Roth, MD, Tel Aviv University in Israel, and Uri Elkayam, MD, University of Southern Californ

Abbott announced the start of the XIENCE V™ USA post-approval study, with six hospital centers already recruiting and enrolling patients just one week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Xience V™ Everolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent System. The XIENCE V USA study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Xience V drug-eluting stent in a real-world clinical setting out to five years. Jack Jones, MD, interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Stormont-Vail Catheterization Lab in Topeka, Kan., was one of the first physicians to enroll a patient into the

Two interventional cardiologists at Bryn Mawr Hospital are among the nation’s leaders in performing and training other physicians in advanced laser treatments for coronary and peripheral artery disease. Dr. Antonis Pratsos and Dr. Sean Janzer have performed more than 100 procedures using “cool” excimer laser technology — bursts of ultraviolet light — to dissolve, or ablate, blockages in arteries.

According to Colorado-Springs based Spectranetics, makers of the only excimer laser approved in the United States, Europe and Japan, Bryn Mawr Hospital is a leading center nationwide

A study out of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center demonstrates emergency room doctors are correctly identifying patients who are having a heart attack, even when laboratory tests haven’t yet confirmed it.

The study used data from a registry called i*trACS, and analyzed patients with heart attack symptoms who were admitted to emergency departments (EDs) in eight participating U.S. centers. The findings were released in the Emergency Medicine Journal.

“One of the most common complaints we see in the ED is chest pain,” said Chadwick Miller, MD, lead author and assista

The governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt, signed new legislation on July 12, 2008, that requires emergency medical services to transport acute stroke and heart attack patients to a designated stroke or ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) care center, rather than the closest facility. The legislation strengthens efforts to protect Missourians from the fatal and debilitating effects of strokes and heart attacks. The new law creates a statewide “time-critical diagnosis system” for stroke and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Research shows patients transported to these centers, r

For the Performance of Diagnostic Invasive Cardiology Procedures: Report of the International Society of Advanced Level Medical Imaging Physician Specialists (ALMIPS) and the Committee on Training Standards©

Writing Committee Members
Jack P. Chen, MD, FACC, FSCAI, FCCP
Chuck Williams, BS, RPA, RT(R) (CV) (CI), RCIS, FSICP
Harvey A. Koolpe, MD1
Manuel Viamonte, Jr., MD
Morton Kern, MD
David E. Allie, MD
Craig Walker, MD
Douglas C. Morris, MD
Michele Doughty Voeltz, MD
Constantin Cope, MD
Siro Buendia, MD
Jackson Thatcher, MD
Phyllis Williams, RN, ASN, CEN, CVT
Neil E. Hol

I am often asked how I acquired my catheter-based endovascular skills, not because I am such a skilled operator, but primarily because my background training was as a classically trained cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, who almost two decades ago began to treat his patients with catheter-based technology. The answer is quite simple in that probably greater than 90% of my training came “on the job,” primarily directed by skilled cath lab technologists and professionals. This is why I have a soft spot in my heart for cath lab techs, CLD and the Society of Invasive Cardiovascular Professi