A cardiovascular call to action from George A. Mensah, MD, Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, and Gregory A. Roth, MD, MPH.

Cardiology

Laza Medical Emerges with Vision for Ultrasound-Guided Cath Lab Procedures

Cath lab procedures have always been synonymous with X-ray fluoroscopy guidance, but this week’s emergence of interventional imaging startup Laza Medical highlights a growing focus on ultrasound guidance.

Laza Medical launches with the help of $36M in Series A financing, and plans to develop a robotically-controlled and AI-powered cath lab ultrasound system. 

• The Laza Medical solution would combine advanced navigation tools and a robotically controlled ultrasound system to allow “a broad population of clinicians” (likely beyond sonographers) to guide EP and structural heart procedures, while also optimizing ultrasound workflows and image quality.
• Based on some online reports, the system might also allow cath lab teams to use ultrasound guidance instead of fluoroscopy.

That might sound far-fetched for a company that lists two employees on Linkedin, but Laza Medical launches with some solid relationships – GE HealthCare was among its Series A investors and Laza came out of the Shifamed innovation hub (also home of Supira Medical, Akura Medical, Tioga Cardiovascular, Adona Medical, and a list of now-exited CV companies).

The company also brought on medtech robotics veteran Pablo Garcia as its new GM, who previously co-founded Verb Surgical, which became the foundation of J&J’s forthcoming Ottava robotics surgery platform.

Laza Medical isn’t alone in the ultrasound guidance trend. In August, J&J’s Biosense Webster announced that six of its AFib ablation products (e.g. catheters, guiding sheaths) received FDA approval for use in zero-fluoroscopy workflows that instead rely on ultrasound guidance. 

The Takeaway

Laza Medical has a long way to go before its vision for AI and robotic-guided interventional ultrasound becomes a reality, but the combined interest of cardiology heavyweights like GE, J&J, and Shifamed highlights the significant potential to expand and improve how ultrasound technology is used in cath labs.

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Better Cardiovascular Care, With a Better Bottom Line

Twenty million chest CTs are acquired in the U.S. each year, but CAC is typically unreported. See how you can leverage Bunkerhill Health’s Incidental CAC algorithm to screen for incidental coronary calcium on routine chest CTs in real-time, improving care and your bottom line.

Reducing ECG Background Noise

Monebo’s Kinitec Rhythms ECG Algorithm separates true ECG signals from background noise, leading to more accurate diagnoses and improved operator efficiency. See for yourself how the algorithm measured up to a gold standard.

The Wire

• 2023 CVD Almanac: The 2023 Cardiovascular Disease Almanac is now out, and the numbers aren’t pretty. The world saw 19.8M CVD deaths in 2022, representing a massive increase from 1990’s 12.4M CVD deaths, driven by the growing and aging population combined with mounting metabolic, behavioral, and environmental risks. The authors positioned this year’s Almanac as a call to action to implement promising CVD-fighting practices globally.

• Hypertension for Two: An analysis spanning the US, England, India, and China found a high prevalence of concordant hypertension (20% to >40%), among middle-aged and elderly heterosexual couples. Challenging prior assumptions, no significant differences were observed between males and females in the couples. The study highlights the potential benefits of couple-based interventions in diagnosing and managing hypertension at a population level.   

• Reno Cardiology Monopoly: Reno’s Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center is suing large Northern Nevada healthcare network Renown Health, for allegedly operating a local cardiology “monopoly” and improperly ending their contract. Renown acquired two local cardiology practices in 2010-2011 that employed nearly all of Reno’s cardiologists, leading to government intervention and lawsuits about patient information sharing. Saint Mary’s and Renown worked together again for the last three years, before Renown allegedly terminated the relationship without giving Saint Mary’s enough advanced notice.

• Apixaban Safe for Kids: The SAXOPHONE study found that the anticoagulant apixaban was safe for thrombosis prevention in children with heart disease. Among children aged 28 days to 18 years, major and clinically relevant bleeding rates were statistically similar for those taking apixaban and standard-of-care heparin or warfarin (one for 0.8% vs. three for 4.8%). According to an accompanying JACC editorial, the study will allow cardiologists to safely dose apixaban in children and the drug will likely be used off-label in a variety of conditions.

• Rethinking Race in Cardiovascular Risk Prediction: New research published in JAMA Cardiology challenged the role of race in cardiovascular risk prediction. The study of over 11k participants from the REGARDS cohort showed that neither removing race nor incorporating SDOH into pooled cohort risk equations improved model performance for assessing ASCVD risk scores. Experts urge a shift in perspective, viewing race as a social rather than biological construct, prompting a reevaluation of its relevance in predicting cardiovascular risks.

• Ventripoint & Ascend’s Distribution Alliance: Ventripoint Diagnostics announced that ASCEND will market and distribute its echo AI technology, coming four months after Ventripoint announced its integration with ASCEND’s diagnostic viewer and structured reporting applications. The Ventripoint VMS+ solution turns cardiac ultrasound scans into MRI-quality heart images, potentially eliminating much of the time and cost of cardiac MRI exams. 

• AI Determines Organ Age From Blood: Stanford researchers developed an AI model that allows the age of individual organs to be determined by analyzing blood proteins, a breakthrough that could pave the way for a new generation of diagnostics. Results published in Nature demonstrated the model’s performance, finding that nearly 20% of the 5,676 adult participants had accelerated aging in at least one organ (confers 20-50% higher mortality risk). Accelerated heart aging was especially problematic, and was associated with a 250% increased risk of heart failure.

• Hims & Hers Weight Loss: Hims & Hers officially launched its much-anticipated holistic Weight Loss program that combines personalized treatment plans from licensed providers with app-based progress trackers, educational content, and medication management (Bupropion, Metformin, Naltrexone, Topiramate). The obvious exclusion here is GLP-1s, which Hims & Hers is apparently holding off on until it can “control the supply chain” and get costs to a level that’s better suited to its DTC model.

• Mixed Results for Dapagliflozin in HF: In a study of the DETERMINE HF trials, the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin (AstraZeneca’s Farxiga) had mixed results for alleviating HF symptoms and improving function. In 313 HFrEF patients, at 16 weeks dapagliflozin significantly improved total symptom scores compared to placebo, but did not boost physical limitation scores or 6-minute walk distance test performance. In 504 with HFpEF, the drug didn’t significantly improve total symptoms, physical limitation scores, nor 6MWD results.

• CVAUSA Acquires in Atlanta: The hottest private equity-backed cardiology practice network has now made its way into Hotlanta. Cardiovascular Associates of America (CVAUSA) partnered with Atlanta Heart Specialists (AHS, 15 cardiologists, 8 NPs/PAs, 10 locations), following a string of practice acquisitions in Florida. AHS is the tenth cardiology practice that CVAUSA has acquired in 2023 and its 17th since 2021.

• Inadequate Adolescent FH Screening: Screening of adolescents for familial hypercholesterolemia is inadequate, according to a retrospective study of Kaiser Permanente Southern California records that could signal screening shortcomings across the US. In the study of about 392k patients aged 11 to 17 years, just 37% underwent lipid screening. One in 3,448 of the screened patients were found to have probable FH, which only adds up to 8.7% of Kaiser’s expected pediatric FH cases.

How to Improve Cardiology Workflows and Get More Patient Time

Complex processes and reporting requirements can mean cardiologists spend more time with clinical systems than they do with their patients. See how Merge Hemo and Merge Cardio work together to help you streamline and scale your clinical and data management workflows, so you can have more time in front of your patients.

HeartFlow’s FFRCT’s Nationwide Improvements

What happens when HeartFlow’s FFRCT Analysis is adopted nationwide? See how the NHS’ nationwide implementation of HeartFlow’s FFRCT solution led to significant reductions in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality, plus solid efficiency gains.

The Resource Wire

• Relieving The Burden of Post-Processing: With the advent of advanced imaging technologies like CCTA come added burdens to technologists and diagnostic imaging centers. See how PIA can relieve the burden of post-processing, saving you time while helping your bottom line.

• Unify Your Cardiovascular Data: In this era of interoperability, it’s time to focus on cardiology. See how Change Healthcare’s enterprise cardiology platform provides a single database for CPACS, Hemo, CVIS, and ECGM — helping to improve data access and integrity while simplifying your IT configuration. 

• Us2.ai’s Heart Failure Screening Impact: See how Us2.ai’s echo AI solution improved heart failure screening in the NHS, reducing echo waiting times from 12 months to under 6 weeks. 

• Cleerly Transforms Personalized CVD Care: Cleerly is launching perhaps the first large-scale randomized imaging AI trial, as it seeks to prove that AI-guided cardiovascular care reduces heart attacks. The five year TRANSFORM trial will investigate whether CVD patients who receive treatments based on results from Cleerly’s investigational AI-based plaque staging system have better outcomes.