As the healthcare environment changes, interventional cardiologists and cath lab professionals have many reasons to be optimistic about the future of the specialty and their ability to help patients live longer and feel better, according to James C. Blankenship, MD, MHCM, FSCAI, MACC. Dr. Blankenship was inducted today as the 39th president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) during its 2015 Scientific Sessions. 

The Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE) has just released the first-ever congenital heart disease (CHD) standards for Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (PCCL) accreditation. Driven by the latest available clinical evidence, the CHD standards are a comprehensive review of interventional procedures in pediatric patients and adults with congenital heart disease.

Stealth BioTherapeutics (Stealth), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates for the treatment of diseases involving mitochondrial dysfunction, today announced its EMBRACE results. EMBRACE is a Phase 2 multinational clinical study evaluating Bendavia in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The results were presented at the American College of Cardiology 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego, California, during the Late-Breaking Clinical Trials (LBCT) session, Main Tent, from 8:00 AM to 9:15 AM PT.

NeoStem, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cell based personalized medicine therapies, announced today the presentation of updated efficacy and safety results from the one-year follow-up for its Phase 2 PreSERVE study and additional analyses of certain functional tests at ACC.15, the American College of Cardiology’s 64th Annual Scientific Session and Expo, in San Diego, California. The one-year follow-up results are defined as all data accumulated until the last patient enrolled completed 12 month follow-up.  Thus, the results actually represent data from patients with a median follow-up of 18 months.

Advancing its interventional coronary portfolio with breakthrough engineering concepts in device design and technology, Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) unveiled the preclinical outcomes of its novel Drug-Filled Stent (DFS) at the 64th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). The preclinical data showed controlled and efficacious drug elution into the arterial wall without a polymer carrier, while reducing diameter stenosis and achieving complete stent coverage quickly without inflammation. Based on these results, Medtronic plans to initiate a clinical trial in the coming months.

Advancing its interventional coronary portfolio with breakthrough engineering concepts in device design and technology, Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) unveiled the preclinical outcomes of its novel Drug-Filled Stent (DFS) at the 64th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). The preclinical data showed controlled and efficacious drug elution into the arterial wall without a polymer carrier, while reducing diameter stenosis and achieving complete stent coverage quickly without inflammation. Based on these results, Medtronic plans to initiate a clinical trial in the coming months.

Medtronic plc today announced the start of its Resolute Onyx Clinical Program in the United States, which will evaluate the Resolute Onyx drug-eluting stent (DES) in patients who have coronary artery disease.  Included in the first phase of the study are patients with small vessels that would require a 2.0 mm stent, which until now, often were untreatable with a DES. Core sizes of the stent will be studied separately.

The Prairie Heart Institute at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, has become the first cardiac catheterization laboratory in Illinois to achieve ACE accreditation. It is also one of the highest volume facilities to achieve this notable accomplishment.