Today saw a "volley across the bow" between Volcano Corporation (Nasdaq: VOLC), a major manufacturer of IVUS, FFR and iFR technologies, and Engaged Capital LLC, an investment firm which holds over two million shares, or 5.1%, of Volcano stock. Engaged founder Glenn W. Welling sent a letter to Volcano demanding that the company begin a search for a new CEO and find a buyer for the company (press release printed below). The letter was prompted by the fact that Volcano's stock price has dropped by more than half over the past year. Engaged has been in discussions with ...

Today Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) and ACIST Medical Systems, Inc., a Bracco Group company, announced a strategic agreement to bring ACIST's FFR and IVUS products into U.S. cath labs. This collaboration marks the first time a major stent manufacturer will offer both FFR and IVUS technologies. FFR (Fractional Flow Reserve) is a functional measurement system, used to help determine whether or not stenting a blockage will provide benefit to the patient. The efficacy of FFR has been proven over many clinical trials such as FAME and FAME II. IVUS (IntraVascular UltraSound) is an imaging modality, which can be ...

This morning the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) issued a guidance document for the use of three major intra-coronary diagnostic tools for use in stenting and angioplasty. Published in the society's journal, Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions , the document details the best use of intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS), Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) as they relate to the diagnosis and optimal placements of stents. For years we at Angioplasty.Org have been urging more widespread use of these technologies, and detailed descriptions of these imaging and functional measurement modalities can be read in our Intravascular ...

Aside from stents themselves, there's a whole toolbox of devices and techniques that are candidates for "comparative effectiveness" in that they may be able to increase the success of interventional procedures -- or even target patients who need these procedures more accurately. As Volcano Corp.'s CEO Scott Huennekens wrote in a recent Washington Times op-ed piece: The United States needs to focus on treating the right patient at the right time with the right method to lower health care costs, improve patient outcomes.