Medical Devices and Surgical Technology Week

Imaging - European Commission approves magnetic resonance angiography contrast agent

Imaging - Four-color confocal fluorescence optimizes imaging of chondrocyte cytoskeleton

Imaging - Fusion imaging with hybrid SPECT-CT camera improves port perfusion scintigraphy

Imaging - Infarction in intact organs viewed by high-resolution 3-D optical imaging

Imaging - Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging assessed

Imaging - New PACS release optimized for very large data sets

Imaging - New version of Vision Series PACS released

Imaging - Ophthalmic digital imaging company launches four new products

Imaging - Origin of intracanalicular neoplasms predicted with high-resolution MR imaging

Imaging - Radiotherapy equipment contract extended for 7 years at U.K. oncology center

Imaging - Sacred Heart Medical Center acquires Zone Sonography technology

Imaging - Self-contained MRI catheter allows identification of vulnerable coronary plaque

Imaging - Use of FDG-PET offers cost and clinical outcome benefits for lung cancer staging

Imaging - Vasovist, a blood pool contrast agent using Target Visualization Technology, wins E.U. approval

Infection Control - NanoMask production increased to meet growing demand caused by avian flu threat

Information Technology - AT&T gets contract from Clarian Health Partners

Information Technology - Alabama hospital signs agreement for evidence-based performance measurement system

Information Technology - Beaufort Memorial Hospital selects wireless barcode technology at the bedside

Information Technology - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City to offer, reimburse secure RelayHealth services

Information Technology - Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula activates Eclipsys' solutions

Information Technology - Company marketing combined healthcare, financial swipe card transaction system

Information Technology - Compliance, risk management technology company signs contract with Adventist

Information Technology - Data integration software provider announces implementation by Pfizer Japan

Information Technology - Derek Moore named senior director, business development, of claims management company

Information Technology - Drug development software services company releases WinNonlin Validation Suite

Information Technology - Film-to-digital system for growing digital mammography market introduced

Information Technology - First two installations of Insist software for newborn screening announced

Information Technology - Five-year IT outsourcing deal signed by Princeton HealthCare System

Information Technology - Healthcare IT consulting firm, mobile devices maker partner to integrate systems

Information Technology - Healthcare information technology company introduces automated chart completion

Information Technology - IRiSCT Injector Reporting Information System launched

Information Technology - Information exchange option for medical records software announced

Information Technology - Information technology company assists in launch of e-HIM Virtual Lab Project

Information Technology - Institute launches large library of pharma, biotech information, educational resources

Information Technology - Interactive learning company announces contracts for clinical training solutions

Information Technology - Levigy to market specialized health benefits management software

Information Technology - Manor Care, Inc., picks software to standardize enterprise reporting

Information Technology - MedLink VPN launches secure system for doctor-patient email communication

Information Technology - More than 200 projects using patient electronic diaries software delivered by tech firm

Information Technology - Mount Nittany Medical Center chooses radiology information management solution

Information Technology - Oregon healthcare system creates digital hospital with integrated software

Information Technology - Orlando Regional selects revenue cycle management solution

Information Technology - Partnership formed to increase managed care organizations' auto-adjudication rates

Information Technology - Prince William Health System chooses system for revenue cycle outsourcing

Information Technology - Providence St. Peter Hospital to install interactive patient education system

Information Technology - RelayHealth announced the release of patient list builder and message scheduler

Information Technology - Software and vertical solution company enters agreement for data migration

Information Technology - U.S. FDA to use systems biology technology for research, review of genomics data

Information Technology - U.S. NIST develops a healthcare IT standards repository

Intracranial Aneurysm - 4-D CT angiography provides valuable information on aneurysm hemodynamics

Intracranial Aneurysm - Stent-assisted coil embolization effective for wide-necked aneurysms

Intraocular Lens - Centripetal lens epithelial cell migration extensive but benign with Alcon SA60AT IOL

Joint Replacement - Serum IL-6 is an accurate diagnostic marker of periprosthetic infection

Kidney Transplantation - Donor alcoholism and injection drug use don't affect graft survival

Legal Issues - Legal actions taken against resolutions of dialysis company's extraordinary general meeting

Leprosy - Methods used by patients to cope and treat Hansen disease evaluated

Lipid Research - Dynamics of lipid metabolism can be monitored using Raman spectroscopy

Lipomatous Tumors - Outcome of giant lipomatous tumors of hand and forearm discussed

Lung Cancer - Endoscopic ultrasound guided biopsy performed routinely spares futile thoracotomies

Lung Cancer - Loss of TSLC1 expression in lung adenocarcinoma associated with poor prognosis

Lung Cancer - Promising treatment for lung cancer: Surgery plus radioactive seeds

Lung Disease - Recommendations for exhaled breath condensate collection methods proposed

Macular Corneal Dystrophy - Phototherapeutic keratectomy has poor long-term outcome

Mandibular Implant - Bite force doesn't affect marginal bone loss in mandibular overdenture treatment

Marketing - Company reports progress on several fronts in marketing its PNT glaucoma treatment

Marketing - Drug-eluting and coated stent tester to be demonstrated throughout U.S. and Europe

Marketing - MarketShare Recovery Inc. changes name to establish biometrics branding

Marketing - Medical imaging systems distributor signs agreement with GPO HealthTrust

Medical Devices - CLIA waiver received for drugs of abuse tests

Medical Devices - California investment group closes investment in N Spine, Inc.

Medical Devices - Cardiac output monitor tested in ER called potential noninvasive alternative

Medical Devices - Electrothermal stimulation skin renewal system launched

Medical Devices - Exchange of ventricular assist system controllers complete, company reports

Medical Devices - Macular degeneration device improves vision in 26% of treated eyes in trial

Medical Devices - Novel UV-curable chitosan derivatives show biocompatibility in implant study

Medical Devices - Palmaz Genesis stent provides good results for renal artery stent placement

Medical Devices - Pulsed dye laser effective light source for Bowen disease treatment

Medical Devices - Results from transdermal vaccination safety and feasibility studies reported

Medical Devices - Safety needle device company receives U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval

Medical Devices - Safety syringe sample batch to be produced; patent filed for plunger technology

Medical Devices - Study finds defibrillators available in many high schools

Medical Devices - Study to evaluate performance of drug-eluting coronary stent system

Medical Devices - Therapeutics company spins out oncology subsidiary in $35 million venture financing

Medical Devices - Ti₆ Al₄ V and Ti₆ Al₇ Nb reduce microvasuclar complications compared to CoCrMo

Medical Devices - U.S. FDA grants 510(k) approval for sale, distribution of anesthesia systems in U.S. market

Medical Devices - U.S. FDA grants 510(k) clearance for ultrasound catheter

Medical Devices - U.S. FDA premarket approval sought for device to treat dry age-related macular degeneration

Medical Devices - U.S. FDA seizes Colleague Infusion Pumps, Syndeo PCA Syringe Pumps

Medicare - Wasatch Hyperbaric Center announces Medicare approval

Melanoma - Melanoma inhibits macrophage activation by suppressing Toll-like receptor 4 signaling

Mergers & Acquisitions - Acquisition of inChord by life sciences marketing services company complete

Mergers & Acquisitions - Drug-coated device maker completes acquisition of Afmedica

Mergers & Acquisitions - Global Healthcare Exchange to acquire Neoforma

Mergers & Acquisitions - Health e Monitoring acquires assets of Disease Management Technologies

Mergers & Acquisitions - Home care, staffing services company enters SC market with acquisition of medical equipment company

Mergers & Acquisitions - Immunoassay maker acquired by Beckman Coulter

Mergers & Acquisitions - Majority ownership of sterile injectable products maker sold to RoundTable Healthcare Partners

Mergers & Acquisitions - Medical device company announces offer for its outstanding common stock

Mergers & Acquisitions - Pharmaceutical services, supply firm acquires Canadian distributor Trent Drugs for $83M

Mergers & Acquisitions - Physician staffing company enters agreement to be acquired by Blackstone Group

Metastasis - Single brain metastasis treated with surgery

Mitral Regurgitation - New device brings hope to severe heart disease patients

Mitral Stenosis - Balloon mitral valvuloplasty feasible under transthoracic echocardiographic guidance

Mitral Valve Prolapse - Adult female patients are more flexible than other women

Nanotechnology - Fe₃ O₄ /TiO₂ core/shell nanoparticles detect phosphopeptides levels of 500pM

Nanotechnology - Future of nanotechnology in medicine discussed

Nanotechnology - Nanophase ceramics increase osteoblast function

Nanotechnology - Nanoprobe-based affinity mass spectrometry detects human plasma proteins in femtomole range

Nanotechnology - U.S. NIH awards $3.7M grant for development of molecular imaging, brain tumor therapy agent

Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction - Endocanalicular laser dacryocystorhinostomy is minimally invasive and effective

Neoplasms - Plasma cell neoplasms reviewed

Neurology - Zebrafish model indicates neuronal mechanism for behavioral control

Neuropathy - Novel neuropathic organophoshorus biosensor detects biomarker NTE in blood

Neuroscience - Dr. Peter Vajkoczy presents latest data on Bowman Perfusion Monitoring System

Neuroscience - Use of full-body biomechanics may improve study of motor cortex function

Neurosurgery - Codubix polypropylene-polyester knit safe and effective as cranioplasty material

Obesity - Patients have increased hospitalization rates after gastric bypass surgery

Obstructive Sleep Apnea - Dynamic upper airway defects more common in infants and hypotonic children

Oncology - MMP9 and PLAU upregulated in testicular tumor and intratubular neoplasia germ cell samples

Oncology - Vascular endothelial growth factor differentiates clear cell renal carcinomas

Ophthalmology - Maker of accommodating interocular lens reports Q3 2005 sales revenue growth of 51%

Ophthalmology - Pattern electroretinography indicates early evidence of inner retinal damage

Ophthalmology - U.S. Food & Drug Administration approves Opti-Free RepleniSH MPDS

Ophthalmology - Visual acuity improves after surgical removal of peripapillary choroidal neovascularization

Oropharyngeal Cancer - Indications for marginal mandibulectomy identified

Ossiculoplasty - Sculpted incus interposition produces hearing comparable with allograft prostheses

Ossiculoplasty - Silastic banding stabilizes ossicular prosthesis in patients with intact stapes and absent malleus

Otorhinolaryngology - Window shade tympanoplasty effective for repair of anterior marginal perforations

Pain Management - Gamma knife is effective in treating trigeminal neuralgia

Pain Management - Magnetic insoles fail to reduce workplace foot pain

Pancreatic Cancer - Metal biliary stents surprisingly effective in patients with resectable tumors

Parkinson Disease - Treadmill walking acts as external pacemaker to improve gait stability

Patent Foramen Ovale - New device closes heart defect, preventing unfiltered blood from entering circulation

Patent Foramen Ovale - New device uses radiofrequency energy for PFO closure

Patents - Blood pressure monitoring developer wins right to protect intellectual property

Patents - Epoch Biosciences issued U.S. patent for detecting nucleic acid targets

Patents - Medical image analysis company issued sixth patent for biomarker analytical tool technology

Patents - Three issued patents cover firm's expansions

Patents - U.S. patent awarded for novel hydraulic proportioning system

Patents - U.S. patent granted for improved medical device safety under MRI

Pediatric Asthma - Nasal torquetenovirus load associated with spirometric indices

Pelvic Examination - Speculum self-insertion offers potential to reduce anxiety of sexual health screening

Perioperative Mortality - Perioperative mortality in oncologic head and neck surgery decreased over last 30 years

Peripheral Artery Disease - Cryoplasty effectively treats challenging peripheral artery blockages

Peripheral Artery Disease - Device removes plaque prior to revascularization in peripheral artery disease

Personnel - Brailer and Perlin named to healthcare quality measurement organization

Personnel - Cardiac electrophysiology company replaces CEO Reinhard Schmidt; David Jenkins takes the helm

Personnel - Catherine Rommal named to risk, patient safety board of healthcare IT company

Personnel - Cliff Shannon named chairman of PHC4 data systems committee

Personnel - Diagnostic test company appoints Maureen Millier to board of directors

Personnel - Don McMillan named division president by medical devices manufacturing company

Personnel - Drug-coated medical device maker appoints Greg Peet to board of directors

Personnel - John Denny named VP, product development, by drug delivery devices developer

Personnel - Life sciences company appoints Keitt and Sosebee to cardiac services division

Personnel - Mary Ann Greenawalt named VP, regulatory affairs, of acute care devices company

Personnel - Senior VP, worldwide sales and services appointed at molecular modeling, informatics company

Phacoemulsification - Drug-loaded hydrogel IOLs reduce posterior subcapsular opacification in vitro

Pharmaceutical Research - Diverse collection of drug-like screening compounds for drug discovery now available

Pharmaceutical Research - New microplate reader series brings infinite flexibility to life science research

Pharmaceutical Research - R&D-oriented pharmaceutical company signs research agreement with Scynexis

Pharmaceutical research - U.S. NCI awards $2.3 million to develop dosing technology for anticancer drugs

Posterior Cortex Epilepsy - Epilepsy duration and neurologic abnormalities predict surgery outcome

Professional Education - Lions Clubs, group supporting intellectually disabled launch vision curriculum

Prognostics - Anemia used as prognostic factor in patients undergoing resection for lung cancers

Prognostics - Development of anastomotic leak associated with worse long-term survival

Prognostics - FDG-PET predicts progression-free and overall survival in non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Prognostics - Gender did not prognosticate outcome of patients undergoing mastectomy

Prognostics - Hematopoietic cell transplantation advised for patients with little comorbidity

Prognostics - Treatment response in head and neck cancer predicted by MR spectroscopy

Prostate Cancer Therapy - Penile prosthesis placement with prostatectomy improves sexual and psychological function

Prosthetic Dentistry - Implant-based facial prosthesis has higher user ratings than adhesive-based prosthesis

Proteomics - Applications of proteomics in nutrition research proposed

Proteomics - Biomarker MCP-1 levels elevated in Peyronie disease plaques

Proteomics - Functional cancer protein microarray launched for use in proteomics research

Proteomics - Hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha is upregulated in regenerating livers after hepatectomy

Proteomics - Serum amyloid P promotes the adhesion of granulocytes and monocytes

Proximal Femoral Defects - Cementless revision total hip arthroplasty without allograft beneficial

Pulpotomy - Alendronate promotes hard tissue formation after tooth removal

Quality Assurance - ECG core laboratory completes XML process under Mortara Certified Partner program

Quality Assurance - Health quality organization endorses new standards for ambulatory, diabetes care

Radiofrequency Ablation - Observation of microbubbles during radiofrequency ablation predicts ablated area

Radiosurgery - Vestibular schwannomas successfully treated with gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS)

Radiotherapy - Inhibition of activated K-Ras promotes radiation killing of pancreatic carcinoma

Radiotherapy - Radiophotoluminescent glass plate dosimeter highly useful for small field dosimetry

Radiotherapy - Radiotherapy could be deferred for low-grade glioma patients in good condition

Rectal Cancer - Multimodality treatment may cure one-third of patients with rectal cancer

Refractive Surgery - Amadeus microkeratome safe and reliable

Refractive Surgery - Wavefront-guided LASIK effective for correction of low-to-moderate myopia with astigmatism

SARS - Non-invasive ventilation for respiratory failure lowers intubation and death rates

SARS Coronavirus Therapy - siRNA inhibitors effective as prophylactic or therapeutic regimens against SARS CoV infection

Schizophrenia - Myelin-associated glycoprotein genotype linked to schizophrenia in Chinese Han

Sexual & Reproductive Health - Brazilian Ministry of Health orders 4 million FC Female Condoms

Sexual & Reproductive Health - New survey shows many women take home pregnancy tests too early to be accurate

Shoulder Replacement - Prosthesis migration impairs function in avascular necrosis but not osteoarthritis patients

Sinus Floor Elevation - Novel protocol improves consistency and reduces morbidity

Soft-Tissue Tumor - Aggressive angiomyxoma diagnosed in a child with chronic renal failure

Spinal Cord Injury - Survey reveals many Hispanics in U.S. not aware of available paralysis resources

Spine Surgery - Anterior iliac crest reconstruction reduces pain after bone graft harvest

Stapes Fixation - Stapedotomy feasible for osteogenesis imperfecta patients

Staphylococcal Infection - Intracellular nasal reservoir identified in recurrent S. aureus rhinosinusitis

Stem Cell Proliferation - Low power laser radiation stimulates stem cell proliferation rate during tissue regeneration

Stem Cell Research - Neural stem cells partition DNA asymmetrically

Stem Cell Research - Simple method yields high-density cultures of embryonic stem cells

Stem Cell Transplantation - Asymptomatic CMV infection has a negative impact on T-cell proliferation in SCT recipients

Surgery - Comorbidity impacted survival after surgical resection of lung cancer

Surgery - Laparoscopic management of endometrial cancer showed benefits over laparotomy

Surgery - Photoselective vaporization of prostate improved symptomatic outcomes

Surgery - Risk of neck cellulitis should be monitored for 1 year after neck dissection

Surgery - Value of systematic central neck dissection called into question

Surgery Side Effects - Males experienced worse bladder and sexual function after laparoscopic surgery

Surgical Standards - Standards for lymphadenectomy of bladder cancer need to be established

Surgical Technology - Anesthesia is not an indicator of patient morbidity and mortality

Surgical Technology - Efficacy of laparoscopic radical nephrectomy deemed comparable with open radical nephrectomy

Surgical Technology - Endoscopic mucosal resection for colonic non-polypoid neoplasms deemed safe

Surgical Technology - First patients treated in Powerlink trial with 34 mm infrarenal cuff

Surgical Technology - Incor LVAD has comparable results, some advantages over other devices

Surgical Technology - Minimally invasive device for spinal surgery available in U.S.

Surgical Technology - Model predicts hospital duration of stay for laparoscopic radical/simple or partial nephrectomy

Surgical Technology - New modules of Endovascular AccuTouch System released

Surgical Technology - Non-stick bipolar forceps launched for neurosurgery

Surgical Technology - Outcome of EERPE deemed on par with laparoscopic transperitoneal radical prostatectomy

Surgical Technology - Robotic radiosurgery system unveiled at conference

Surgical Technology - Transperitoneal approach advised when abundant fatty tissues surrounds kidney

Surgical Technology - U.S. Food and Drug Administration clears Connexion GXL enhanced polyethylene hip acetabular liner

Telemedicine - PrimeCare Systems awards license to Argentina-based Telemedica

Thrombosis - Fibrin-targeted contrast agent improves MRI thrombus detection

Thyroid Surgery - LigaSure vessel sealing system provides safe and effective hemostasis

Tissue Engineering - Extracellular matrix scaffold and muscle tissue used to reconstruct esophagus

Transplant Medicine - Basiliximab may be useful in heart transplantations

Transplant Medicine - C4d staining can establish criterion for antibody-mediated cardiac rejections

Transplant Medicine - Donor leukocyte infusion may be a potential treatment for cytomegalovirus retinitis

Transplant Medicine - New antifreeze protein may allow longer storage of transplant organs

Transplant Medicine - Nonprofit organ donation organization receives transplant network contract

Transplant Medicine - Researchers try to determine causes of cardiac allograft rejection

Tularemia Vaccine - University of New Mexico, drug company receive $23 million to develop tularemia vaccine

Ultrasonic Root-End Preparation - Retrotip type, tooth type/location, and post restoration don't affect outcome

Urology - Bladder smooth muscle cells exhibit hypertrophy, not hyperplasia, following spinal cord injury

Vascular Radiology - Type 1 collagen stent-grafts biocompatible in rabbit small-diameter vessels

West Nile Virus - Focus and Panbio flavivirus enzyme immunoassays useful for diagnosis