Current embolic therapies for cancer have one major drawback. When they're introduced into a vessel through a catheter, reflux often occurs along the catheter, sending the medication backward into another vessel and into non-targeted tissue. The safety of these could greatly improve with Surefire Medical's new embolic therapy catheter. Surefire's initial therapeutic target is liver cancer.

Two distinct and effective radiofrequency medical devices to treat two prevalent digestive system disorders have been resurrected in an improved configuration, after the bankruptcy of their original manufacturer. Stretta for gastroesophageal reflux disease and Secca for bowel incontinence were first launched by Curon Medical, which went out of business in 2006. Mederi Therapeutics Inc. acquired the assets and is once again offering these two clinically proven therapies using a new RF generator and redesigned disposables.

Check off electromagnetism as another in a long line of technologies used extensively by the defense industry that has now found favor in medical application. The Catheter Guidance Control and Imaging system from Magnetecs Corp. navigates a catheter tip via electromagnetic technology to better target radiofrequency ablation therapy during cardiology-electrophysiology procedures. The company believes its real-time navigational system offers a rapid, safe and accurate means of treating cardiac rhythm disturbances in a manner that heretofore has not been available.