Southampton Hospital hosted a ground-breaking ceremony on August 12, 2013 to celebrate the beginning of its new Audrey and Martin Gruss Heart and Stroke Center and to honor the Gruss’ extraordinary gift of $5 million to the new facility at the Hospital.  When completed, the Center will provide stroke treatment and carotid stents as needed and will consolidate a broad spectrum of new and sophisticated diagnostic and treatment capabilities with existing cardiovascular programs and services. 

Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX), a leading global provider of medical devices for critical care and surgery, has announced that its subsidiary Hotspur Technologies, Inc., which Teleflex acquired in June 2012, received FDA 510(k) clearance to market the company’s ARROW® GPSCath® Balloon Dilatation Catheters in Higher Rated Burst Pressure (RBP) and 80 cm lengths. These novel products enable multiple vascular procedures to be performed with one dual-function catheter, potentially reducing procedure time and expense for both patients and medical professionals.

Enhancing its product leadership team, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has named David Sloop director, X-ray Vascular Business Unit. Sloop will be responsible for implementing strategic marketing plans to drive growth and profitability of Toshiba’s X-ray Vascular product line.

A new $11 million grant to Kaiser Permanente Northern California and UC San Francisco will support a multifaceted research program aimed at lowering stroke risk among black populations and younger stroke victims by targeting high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI), today announced the completion of patient enrollment in the CHILL-MI clinical study designed to further evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the company’s InnerCool RTx endovascular cooling system in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).  

Four research centers will develop high-impact culturally tailored interventions aimed at lowering stroke risk among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Together the centers are expected to receive $40 million in funding over five years, contingent on the availability of funds from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Up to 10 per cent of patients with high blood pressure are resistant to treatment, which puts them at increased risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks. Clinical trials show that catheter-based renal denervation reduces blood pressure in patients who do not respond to conventional drug therapy.

Carolinas HealthCare System’s Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute became the first in the world to implant a branched stent graft specifically designed for branch vessel repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms on Thursday. This is the first arch graft available in a clinical trial and both the device and surgical approach are novel.