Medtronic has voluntarily issued a global recall of its Valiant Navion thoracic stent graft system and informed physicians to immediately cease use of the device until further notice.

Caption Health has announced the publication of a study in JAMA Cardiology assessing its artificial intelligence (AI) guidance software for cardiac ultrasound examinations. The study was the basis for the February 2020 authorisation of Caption Guidance through the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) de novopathway. The Caption AI platform, which includes Caption Guidance and Caption Interpretation, is an AI-guided medical imaging acquisition software.

Around 50% of patients who have been hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and have raised levels of troponin have heart damage, according to a study published in the European Heart Journal. The injury was detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at least a month after discharge and includes myocarditis, infarction, ischaemia and combinations of all three.

The German Institute for Hospital Remuneration (InEK) has renewed the new examination and treatment methods (NUB) Status 1 designation of VasQ external support (Laminate Medical Technologies) for 2021.

Cagent Vascular announced the results of its PRELUDE-BTK study at LINC 2021 (25–29 January, online). The PRELUDE-BTK study was a prospective, single-arm, multicentre feasibility study to show the safety and efficacy of serration angioplasty.

Twelve-month results from the PRESTIGE below-the-knee (BTK) study have been presented as a late-breaking trial at LINC 2021(The Leipzig Interventional Course; 25–29 January, online). The objective of this clinical investigation has been to evaluate safety and performance outcomes of SELUTION SLR, MedAlliance’s novel sirolimus-eluting balloon, for the treatment of long tibial occlusive lesions (TASC C and D) in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI).

Analysis of data from English hospitals suggests that there was a sharp decline in the number of people admitted to hospitals with acute heart failure or a heart attack ahead of the country’s second COVID-19 lockdown in November 2020.

Complete revascularisation is rarely achieved in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiogenic shock related to acute myocardial infarction (MI). This is the conclusion of a study evaluating the predictive value of the residual SYNTAX score in patients with cardiogenic shock. Findings from the study were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) in January, with the authors concluding that the residual SYNTAX score is independently associated with early and late mortality.

Robocath has announced the successful completion of the first remote robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedure in Europe, carried out by Eric Durand at the Rouen Medical Training Center, Rouen, France and Rémi Sabatier, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France—spanning 75 miles between the two locations.

Inari Medical has announced US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance of the FlowTriever system for the treatment of clot in transit (CIT) in the right atrium.

A recent network meta-analysis shows that, in failing arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) with outflow stenosis, drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty is “significantly superior” to plain balloon angioplasty, presenting an improved six-month failure rate. However, Gregory Tripsianis (Democritus University, Alexandroupolis, Greece) and colleagues stress that the effectiveness of DCB angioplasty in the long term “deserves further investigation”.

BioVentrix has announced that heart failure specialist Jerry Estep (Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, USA) has been appointed as co-principal investigator of the pivotal ALIVE Trial studying LIVE Therapy using the Revivent TC transcatheter ventricular enhancement system. He joins co-principal investigators Gregg Stone of New York’s Mount Sinai Health System (New York, USA) and Andrew Wechsler of the Drexel University College of Medicine (Philadelphia, USA) in overseeing the trial.