Medtronic agreed to acquire Lazarus Effect, a medical device company with an acute ischemic stroke product that is approved in Europe but not in the U.S. The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is an all-cash transaction valued at $100 million.

Medtronic acquired Medina Medical, a medical device company developing a device to treat cerebral aneurysms. Medtronic had previously invested and held an ownership stake in Medina Medical, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif.

Hospitals across the U.S. are beginning to implant patients with the Watchman left atrial appendage closure device, which the FDA approved in March.

Employees who work 55 or more hours per week had a higher risk of stroke compared with those who work standard hours, according to a cumulative random-effects meta-analysis of published and unpublished data.

Fewer than one-third of hospital staff members accurately identified the percentage of patients who received intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) within 60 minutes of arriving at the institutions, according to an analysis of a national stroke registry. Personnel at low-performing hospitals tended to overestimate their performance in stroke care compared with other hospitals.

Patients with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) who underwent an endovascular-first treatment strategy at Stanford University Medical Center had reductions in perioperative morbidity and mortality and improvements in long-term survival compared with those who had an open repair.

Older adults without dementia who had lower executive function had a higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, according to an analysis of a prospective, randomized controlled trial.

Since 2010, at least 8,000 deaths have been linked to three of the new anticoagulants compared with 700 for warfarin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today report. The publications noted that there were around three times as many prescriptions for warfarin compared with the new anticoagulants last year.