Thursday, April 16, 2009
Vascular Solutions Announces First Quarter Results; Net Revenue Increases 12% to $15.8 Million; Net Income Increases 300% to $0.06 Per Share
New Tool Calculates Risk Of Bleeding In Heart Attack Patients
Led by Sumeet Subherwal, M.D., formerly a Barnes-Jewish Hospital medical resident at Washington University Medical Center and now a cardiology fellow at Duke University, and in collaboration with several investigators including Karen Alexander, M.D., a cardiologist at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, the researchers analyzed the medical histories of more than 89,000 patients hospitalized in the United States for non-ST-elevation heart attack. This type of heart attack is the most common and usually results from a partial rather than complete blockage of the heart's arteries.
The patient histories were part of the CRUSADE Quality Improvement Initiative, a national multicenter program that aims to improve outcomes for heart attack patients. The risk assessment tool is called the CRUSADE bleeding score.
"A lot of treatment decisions have to be made very promptly after the patient arrives," says Bach, also associate professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine. "So we designed a bleeding-risk stratification tool that would require only those variables that can be obtained up front. It's a practical tool that can be used in any hospital setting."
The CRUSADE analysis identified eight factors that could predict the odds that a heart attack patient might suffer a bleeding event. The factors are gender, heart rate, blood pressure, hematocrit (the concentration of red cells in the blood), creatinine clearance (a measure of kidney function), diabetes, peripheral vascular disease or stroke, and congestive heart failure.
The bleeding score calculation assigns points to each factor so that the total score coincides with risk of bleeding evidenced in the CRUSADE cases. The range of possible scores is divided into five categories from very low to very high risk of bleeding.
The bleeding risk score is intended to help guide critical early treatment decisions for clinicians caring for heart attack patients, but the impact of its use on outcomes will need to be tested in clinical trials, says Bach. Potentially, the score will be used in conjunction with other practice guidelines to optimize heart attack treatment and minimize risk.
Surgical Gel Used to Stop Bleeding Could Confuse Mammograms
The Loyola University Health System radiologist saw a suspicious pattern of white specks, much like grains of salt. The specks were calcium deposits similar to microcalcifications that sometimes are a sign of early breast cancer. But it was too early for the patient's breast cancer to have returned because it had been only a month since her lumpectomy. It turns out the microcalcifications were not from cancer. Rather, they were due to a gel that is sometimes used during surgery to stop bleeding. In a recent article in the American Journal of Roentgenology, Ward and colleagues reported seven cases in which the sealant mimicked malignant microcalcifications in mammograms. The sealant, FloSeal, "is not recommenderd for use on breast tissue," Ward and colleagues wrote. Ward is Medical Director of Women's Health Imaging and an assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
Full article available HERE.
CryoLife Announces Release Date and Teleconference Call Details for 2009 First Quarter Financial Results
CryoLife, Inc. (NYSE:CRY), an implantable biological medical device and tissue processing company, announced today that 2009 first quarter financial results will be released on Thursday, April 30, 2009. On that day, the Company will hold a teleconference call and live webcast at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results, followed by a question and answer session hosted by Steven G. Anderson, president and chief executive officer of CryoLife, Inc.
To listen to the live teleconference, please dial 201-689-8261 a few minutes prior to 10:00 a.m. A replay of the teleconference will be available April 30 through May 7 and can be accessed by calling (toll free) 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415. The account number for the replay is 244 and the conference number is 319410.
The live webcast and replay can be accessed by going to the Investor Relations section of the CryoLife web site at www.cryolife.com and selecting the heading Webcasts & Presentations.