Results of the CULPRIT-SHOCK trial presented at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in Denver confirm that patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock are better off treated with culprit-lesion-only percutaneous coronary intervention rather than multivessel stenting, which is currently recommended in the European guidelines.

A new multi-society clinical expert consensus statement on percutaneous mechanical circulatory support is intended to help physicians select devices for the patients who are most likely to benefit, but the authors identify several questions about the devices that need to be addressed in future clinical studies.

David Melvin, MD, a cardiac transplant surgeon who started and built the heart transplant program at the University Hospital, Cincinnati, took a sabbatical in 1991 to research and invent devices for congestive heart failure. His efforts resulted in several patented devices, among them the CardioClasp. CardioClasp is a simple, passive device that is designed to surround a patient's failing heart, to geometrically remodel it and correct for the pathological increase in size that congestive heart failure causes.

A new generation of miniature, totally implantable devices for end-stage congestive heart failure promises to return patients to normal lives. If the implantable ventricular assist devices can function reliably for many years, they may offer patients an alternative to heart transplantation and even arrest the progression of the diseases at earlier stages.