CardioExchange Archive

March 28th, 2014

How Sure Can We Be About Optisure?

Edward J. Schloss, MD

Edward J. Schloss reflects on the release of the new Optisure family of ICD leads by St. Jude Medical, as well as the history of leads made by this company.

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April 5th, 2013

Thrombi on Riata ICD Leads: Another Piece in the Puzzle of Riata Management

Sandeep K Goyal, MD

An author of a new report detailing five cases of conductor-extrusion-associated thrombi on Riata leads discusses his recommendations for screening and lead removal.

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March 28th, 2013

Case Report Of Durata Lead Failure Raises Fresh Concerns

Edward J. Schloss, MD

 A case report of a failed St. Jude Medical Durata ICD lead was published yesterday, raising suspicions that this lead may share some of the same potential failure mechanisms of its troubled predecessor, the Riata lead. St. Jude’s ICD lead troubles date back to early case reports involving the Riata and Riata ST leads that ultimately led […]

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January 28th, 2013

Getting a Read on St. Jude Leads: An Interview with Robert G. Hauser

Robert George Hauser, BS MD and John Ryan, MD

The researcher and EP who first documented problems with St. Jude next generation leads reacts to the FDA’s recent letter to the company and explains what he is doing for patients who have received these devices.

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January 16th, 2013

FDA Releases Warning Letter to St. Jude About ICD Leads

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA on Tuesday released the full text of a warning letter sent last week to St. Jude Medical. The company had previously disclosed the existence of the letter in an SEC filing but did not make clear the full extent of the FDA warning. The letter from the FDA is the latest in a series of setbacks and challenges […]

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May 10th, 2012

Shedding Light on Riata at the Heart Rhythm Society Meeting

Edward J. Schloss, MD

The Heart Rhythm Society meeting kicked off in Boston this morning. Edward Schloss recounts the important opening session in which FDA-recalled St. Jude ICD leads Riata, Riata ST, and Durata were discussed.

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April 30th, 2012

HeartRhythm Editor Douglas Zipes Defends Peer Review

Larry Husten, PHD

Rejecting an extraordinary request from industry to retract a controversial paper, Douglas Zipes, the editor-in-chief of HeartRhythm, has written a rare, highly pointed editorial defending the publication process. “If one disagrees with facts/statements in a publication,”  writes Zipes, “there is a well-defined approach that can begin with a letter to the editor or submission of one’s own data for peer […]

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April 10th, 2012

Round Two: Heart Rhythm Editor Rejects St. Jude Request to Retract Riata Paper

Larry Husten, PHD

Douglas Zipes, the editor of Heart Rhythm, said the journal will not retract a controversial paper that has raised new safety concerns about St. Jude’s embattled Riata leads. On Friday, as electrophysiologist Wes Fisher told CardioExchange, St. Jude issued a press release alleging numerous mistakes and oversights in an article by Robert Hauser published online in Heart Rhythm linking the company’s Riata and […]

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April 9th, 2012

David vs. Goliath: St. Jude Medical Seeks Retraction of Heart Rhythm Journal Manuscript

Shengshou Hu, M.D.

CardioExchange welcomes this guest post from Dr. Westby Fisher, an electrophysiologist practicing at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois, and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. This piece originally appeared on his blog, Dr. Wes. St. Jude Medical, a widely-used manufacturer of implantable cardiac devices, finds they have a bit of a problem […]

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March 28th, 2012

20 Deaths Linked to New Problem with Riata Leads

Larry Husten, PHD

Electrical malfunctions, not externalized conductors, may be the cause of 20 or more deaths associated with the troubled Riata ICD leads from St. Jude Medical, according to a new report published online in Heart Rhythm. Robert Hauser and colleagues at the Minneapolis Heart Institute searched the FDA’s MAUDE database and found 22 deaths caused by Riata or Riata […]

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