Left to Our Devices

Europeans are left to their own devices.

Slick and efficient or opaque and patchy—these are two of the views about the European medical device regulatory system expressed during a recent US Congress debate. But unlike the case with, say, consumer drug advertising, the devices industry argues that conditions are more favourable in Europe. “European regs are driven by one key goal: innovation,” one industry report suggests. And another ...

Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

Left Atrial Appendage Closure Devices

Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk for thromboembolic stroke five-fold. The left atrial appendage (LAA) has been shown to be the main source of thrombus formation in the majority of strokes associated with AF. Oral anticoagulation with warfarin and novel anticoagulants remains the standard of care; however, it has several limitations, including bleeding and poor compliance. Occlusion o...

Thanks to Our Peer-Reviewers in 2016

Left ventricular assist devices: from the bench to the clinic.

The development of ventricular assist devices (VADs) over the past 5 decades as therapy for advanced heart failure (HF) has been extraordinary. Since the original VAD design by Michael DeBakey in the early 1960s, numerous devices for mechanical circulatory support have been engineered, assessed in preclinical studies, applied to human patients in large multicenter clinical trials, and now, sele...