Abbott Laboratories reported the U.S. FDA approval of a new device specifically designed for the repair of leaky tricuspid heart valves. The Triclip was granted a PMA for the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation following the recent recommendation of the Circulatory System Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee for the FDA, whose vote confirmed 13 to 1, with 0 abstention that the benefits of Triclip outweighed the risks.
The annual volume of implant of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) devices has grown steadily over the years, and that volume might sustain its upward trajectory over the next few years if the results of a new analysis of more than 46,000 TAVR patients gain traction. The data for these patients with minimally symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) predictably indicated that this group was less susceptible to bad outcomes than those with more severe symptoms, but one of the hopes is that earlier intervention into AS could ward off future cardiovascular events, a finding which might justify expanded payer coverage for TAVR in these patient populations.
Peijia Medical Co. Ltd. reported the implant of its Taurustrio transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system in a first patient as part of a multi-center trial getting one step closer to launching the first TAVR system for aortic regurgitation (AR) in China.
Two research studies by Egnite Inc. presented at the American College of Cardiology Conference (ACC) could shake up the scope of how aortic stenosis (AS) is understood and treated by physicians.
Following last week’s FDA approval of its Onyx Frontier drug eluting stent (DES), Medtronic plc released results at EuroPCR from a real-world, multicenter prospective study using its Resolute Onyx platform for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in the left main artery. Rehovot, Israel-based Pi-Cardia Ltd. also released early data for patients treated with its Short Cut transcatheter device for coronary obstruction prevention.
The second generation of Boston Scientific Corp.’s Acurate Neo2 valve has demonstrated better performance than its predecessor, showing a threefold reduction of paravalvular leakage (PVL) said researchers. During the hotline/late-breaking trials session on May 17 at the EuroPCR meeting held in Paris, Andrea Buono, interventional cardiologist at Fondazione Poliambulanza Istituto Ospedaliero in Brescia, Italy, presented results from a large study comparing the performance of Acurate Neo and Acurate Neo2 in 13 Italian centers.
The FDA has given thumbs up to two clinical studies for a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) system developed by HLT Inc. to treat aortic stenosis among high-risk patients. Those studies will include aortic regurgitation which also occurs when an aortic valve doesn't open and close tightly enough but for which there are few suitable, noninvasive treatments.
As was the case with left atrial appendage closure, renal denervation (RD) as a treatment for hypertension has proven to be difficult to move along into routine clinical usage. New data for a study sponsored by Medtronic plc showed that RD offers a statistically significant improvement over sham treatment in reducing hypertension, but the data do not seem to suggest that patients will be able to drop their antihypertensive medications after RD treatment.
The tricuspid valve at times seems the lost child of the heart’s valves, but new research hints that regurgitation of this valve can be resolved with a transcatheter replacement. Adam Greenbaum, of Emory University School of Medicine, said the early feasibility study of the Pascal valve by Edwards Lifesciences Inc., of Irvine, Calif., demonstrated a large improvement in mortality at one year and significant improvements in heart failure status, a result that offers new hope for these patients.
TORONTO – Opsens Inc. has successfully treated 20 patients in the first-in-human study employing a new surgical guidewire to improve procedural workflow during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). According to Opsens CEO Louis Laflamme, the Savvywire will be the first guidewire to deliver a valvular prosthesis while allowing continuous hemodynamic pressure measurement during the procedure.