Other Headlines

Survey shows 90 percent of companies surveyed have AdvaMed ethics policies in place.
Letter to National HIT Coordinator points out problems in implementation for hospitals.
Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has been named a winner in the fifth annual Progressive Manufacturing 100 Awards (PM100), sponsored by Managing Automation Media, a Thomas Publishing Company, LLC publication.
HIMSS has released a new white paper -- Defining and Testing EMR Usability: Principles and Proposed Methods of EMR Usability Evaluation and Rating.
Alpha Source, Inc. named by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) as one of their Future 50 Companies.

Have News for Us?

Submit your news on the industry, people, or companies.

Forward to a Friend

More Industry Headlines

Independent Survey Indicates Med Tech Companies Have Broad Support for AdvaMed Code of Ethics Survey shows 90 percent of companies surveyed have AdvaMed ethics policies in place.

AHA Proposes Changes to Draft Definition of "Meaningful Use" Letter to National HIT Coordinator points out problems in implementation for hospitals.

Healthcare Information Management Service (HIMSS) Releases New White Paper HIMSS has released a new white paper -- Defining and Testing EMR Usability: Principles and Proposed Methods of EMR Usability Evaluation and Rating.

CareFusion Launches New Brand Cardinal health spinoff takes an important step toward going public later this summer.

ACR Talks to DOTmed About the Utilization Rate Controversy What the problems are, what possible solutions exist.

Medical Suppliers Go to "The Max" for Health Care Market Intelligence Vendors and distributors in the health care industry are increasingly turning to market intelligence tools to help them stay competitive in today's economy. Read DOTmed's profile of The Max, a leading medical market intelligence service.

VA Infections Spark Calls for More Oversight House committee calls for centralized control of the veterans' health system after a recent spate of infections that may be linked to faulty endoscope sterilization.

Health Reform Round-Up: House Committee Hearings Three days of recent testimony on the Hill focus on the draft proposal for health care reform. Read DOTmed's exclusive weekly update.

CMS Medicare Pay Plan Announced CMS proposes payment, policy changes for physician services to Medicare beneficiaries in 2010.

First Patient Receives Cardiac Stem Cells to Heal Damage Caused by Heart Attack Doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have completed the first procedure in which a patient's own heart tissue was used to grow specialized heart stem cells that were then injected back into the patient's heart in an effort to re-grow healthy muscle after a heart attack.

NEJM provides
two ICD studies

Defibrillator Study Leads to Shocking Conclusion

September 03, 2008
by Barbara Kram, Editor
An article in today's New England Journal of Medicine provides results from the study "Prognostic Importance of Defibrillator Shocks in Patients with Heart Failure."

Lead investigator Jeanne E. Poole, M.D., University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues studied heart failure patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), devices that shock the heart back into rhythm. Some of the shocks were considered appropriate but others inappropriate. In both types of cases the ICD shocks increased the risk of death according to an analysis of study data.

"Among patients with heart failure in whom an ICD is implanted for primary prevention, those who receive shocks for any arrhythmia have a substantially higher risk of death than similar patients who do not receive such shocks," the study abstract concluded.

A related study in the same journal finds that ICD patients enjoy favorable quality of life. Read about it at http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/6954.

AdvaMed Response

ICDs can save lives, according to David Nexon, senior executive vice president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), an organization of medical technology companies.

"It is important to put the results of the study within the context of the significant overall patient benefit of implantable-cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). First and foremost, ICDs are incredibly successful in achieving their primary purpose: saving lives. ICDs are 98 percent effective in treating dangerous ventricular arrhythmias that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest. The SCD-HeFT data set used by the study's authors showed that ICD therapy significantly reduced all-cause mortality by 23 percent compared to placebo, and ICDs were superior to drug therapy. Several other studies also have demonstrated the benefits of ICD therapy," he said in a statement. "Patients should discuss any concerns they may have arising from this study with their physician."

Read the New England Journal of Medicine (9/4/08) study abstract (Volume 359:1009-1017; September 4, 2008; Number 10).



Interested in Medical Industry News? Subscribe to DOTmed's weekly news email and always be informed. Click here, it takes just 30 seconds.

Please Send us your Comments.

Printable Story
Access and use of this site is subject to the terms and conditions of our LEGAL NOTICE & PRIVACY NOTICE
Property of and Proprietary to DOTmed.com, Inc. Copyright ©2001-2009 DOTmed.com, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED