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Medical & Surgical Devices
& Related Newswire
6/27/2006 2:25:00 PM | Medtronic drug-eluting stent advancing 
=(0) Medtronic reports on the status of several studies on its coronary stent: Patient enrollment is complete in the fourth phase of a study, which compares the Medtronic Endeavor stent to the Boston Scientific Taxus Stent. Both are stents that release medication into the patient's bloodstream. A study is also under way to compare the Endeavor to Johnso...
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6/22/2006 1:45:00 PM | Angiotech shares drop on report of lower stent use =(0) Contrary to a report in the Wall Street Journal, officials at Angiotech, a company that makes drug preparations for stents, say that the use of drug-coated stents is not declining and that they remain more effective than bare metal stents. The Journal report had stated that hospitals were concerned about the formation of blood clots so had beg...
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6/19/2006 6:58:00 PM | Pacemaker that can predict heart failure =(0) A new generation of pacemakers is being developed that can detect fluid retention and transmit information about a patient's heart to remote locations. It can warn a patient if trouble is looming, before symptoms develop, with the idea of reducing the need for hospitalization. One such device, the Medtronic Concerto, has recently been app...
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6/17/2006 8:40:00 AM | Chicago Suit Says Man Got Hepatitis From Stolen Body Tissue =(0) A Chicago man who claims he acquired Hepatitis B from a surgical procedure using stolen body tissue, has filed a lawsuit. The defendants include Biomedical Tissue Services and Medtronic. The suit alleges negligence, failure to screen harvested tissue for disease, and failure to maintain proper documentation......................
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6/16/2006 7:02:00 AM | Johnson & Johnson to appeal stent ruling =(0) Boston Scientific has scored a point in their patent war against Johnson & Johnson. The companies are claiming each infringed the patents of the other with regard to various models of stents, wire mesh devices that are placed inside arteries. The latest ruling upholds a previous decision that Johnson & Johnson's Cypher stent infringed Bos...
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6/12/2006 4:23:00 PM | Medtronics targeted in St. Clair County again =(0) Medtronic is being sued by an Illinois man, claiming damages because the implantable defibrillator he received was later revealed to have a defective battery. He was subsequently hospitalized and is claiming personal and economic damages. The 24 counts in the lawsuit include fraud, negligence, misrepresentation and defective design...............
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6/5/2006 7:19:00 AM | Suits Target J&J Discs =(0) Lawsuits are piling up against Johnson & Johnson's Charite Spinal Disc. The first of its kind, it is marketed as an alternative to spinal fusion, providing a more natural range of movement; however when the surgery fails, it can apparently lead to further, dangerous surgery and disability. The company stands by its product, saying those for wh...
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6/1/2006 4:00:00 AM | Sentara Obici Hospital sued for surgery malpractice =(0) Sentara Obici Hospital in Virginia is being sued for surgical malpractice following the death of a district judge who had surgery there. The claim is, a sponge was left in the judge's body during abdominal surgery in 2004 due to negligence by surgical assistants. This led to pain, infection, and more surgery, and resulted in his not being a c...
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5/19/2006 2:53:00 AM | Six face remote risk of rare brain disease =(0) Six patients who had neurosurgery at a Colorado hospital are under watch for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare, progressive and fatal brain disorder. The instruments used to operate on these six people had been used on a woman who was later found to have the disease. The infectious agent can conceivably survive sterilization although the...
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5/16/2006 4:01:00 PM | Boston Scientific stent gets added EU OK =(0) Boston Scientific's Taxus Liberte stent has received approval in Europe for the treatment of additional conditions. Originally, approval was granted for coronary artery disease; now the drug-coated stent may be used to treat in-stent restinosis (tissue overgrowth of a stent) and total arterial occlusion (total blockage). This new stent i...
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5/15/2006 12:51:00 PM | Medtronic outlines its initiatives on pacemaker guides =(0) Medtronic, a medical device maker, has outlined improvements it is implementing to adhere to the guidelines recently recommended by the Heart Rhythm Society: It is expanding its panels that study performance trends and quality control; it is creating a patient advisory panel to improve communication with patients; it will work to pool data fro...
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5/10/2006 11:01:00 AM | Medtronic begins study on new ICD device =(0) Medtronic has begun a clinical trial to study a new device in the treatment of mild to moderate heart failure. The device is an implantable defibrillator, but also is able to transmit data via phone lines so that doctors can more closely monitor patient heart rate, pressure, body temperature and activity. ............
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4/26/2006 3:07:00 AM | Replacing heart device has high risk =(0) If your surgically implanted heart defibrillator is recalled, such as occurred recently with Boston Scientific devices - what do you do? Statistically, it is safer to not have it replaced, according to a new study, because risks of complications from the replacement surgery far outweigh risks of defibrillator failure. The study showed an ...
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4/21/2006 8:20:00 AM | Abbott Completes Acquisition of Guidant Vascular Business =(0) As part of the terms of Boston Scientific's acquisition of Guidant, Abbott has acquired Guidant's vascular device business unit. One of the devices that both Abbott and Guidant have developed is the stent, a piece of wire mesh that is inserted into an artery in order to keep it open and filter out blood clots. Newer stent versions contain...
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4/14/2006 6:18:00 AM | OC doctors disagree on value of artificial spinal disc implant =(0) The Charite spinal disc is the first artifical disc approved to replace damaged spinal discs. Its use is controversial, and Medicare is considering no longer paying for the procedure to insert it. A lawsuit filed in Massachusetts against DePuy, part of Johnson & Johnson, alleges that the disc caused the litigant severe back and leg pain.&...
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4/10/2006 8:15:00 PM | Guidant Trial on Recalled Heart Devices Will Be Postponed =(0) First the recall, now the lawsuits: the first lawsuit against Guidant to go to trial will begin in July, according to the Texas judge presiding over the case. The charges are fraud and deceptive trade pracices. Plaintiffs contend that Guidant knew that its defibrillators, implanted in the plaintiffs' chests, might be defective, but did not war...
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4/5/2006 2:01:00 AM | Roche's US unit Disetronic recalls ACCU-CHEK insulin delivery sets =(0) Disetronic Medical Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Roche Holding AG, has recalled the insulin infusion set, the Accu-Chek Ultraflex Infusion Set because of a potential defect that can cause hyperglycemia in patients. There is a small defect in the insulin delivery system that may cause a leak which can create an inadequate and irregular supply of ins...
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4/3/2006 10:08:00 AM | The JGS Group Announces Contact Center Services for Medical Device =(0) In order to help companies, doctors and patients in situations where a defective medical device is recalled, the JGS Group is offering a new service where they will provide contact centers, including phone and email support, to companies that hire them to handle reimbursement claims. This kind of short term contact center can increase communication...
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3/25/2006 4:13:00 AM | Medical device bill withdrawn =(0) A Minnesota bill that proposed to force medical device manufacturers to pay for all the medical costs associated with a recall was withdrawn. Several lawmakers believed that the bill, which would have mandated that medical device manufacturers cover surgical costs, as well as the cost of replacement medical devices could potentially damage the medi...
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3/23/2006 1:09:00 PM | Medtronic claims win in stent patent case =(0) Medtronic has successfully defended the patent lawsuit filed against them by Johnson & Johnson. An arbitration panel ruled that the Driver stent by Medtronic did not violate a Johnson & Johnson license for its Cordis stent. There are more patent disputes to follow between several medical device manufacturers. ............
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