Researcher’s at UT Southwestern Medical Center are studying a new device to treat chronic congestive heart failure. The system uses catheter’s and a very small external pump.
The Cancion System, manufactured by Orqis Medical Corp., is a pump device that is introduced into the body via catheters inserted through tiny incisions in the groin. Once placed, the pump draws blood from the patient’s iliac artery – located in the pelvis – into a small external pump. From there, the blood goes through another catheter placed in the heart’s descending aorta, where it is re-introduced for continuous blood flow.
Thus it will improve …read more

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey study found a wireless system that enables on-call cardiologists to view full ECGs on “smart” phones can cut in half the time it takes to begin the treatment of heart attack with catheter-based techniques such as angioplasty and stenting.
The door to intervention time of patients having an acute MI was cut to 73 minutes using this wireless system. It used to take almost that long to just to notify the cardiologist of the patient’s positive MI.
I haven’t seen this used in clinical practice yet, but I sure do welcome …read more