The company announced July 20 the start of its 30-patient, single-arm FAST study assessing its everolimus-eluting scaffold system, but executives says Boston Scientific will be closely considering whether the system warrants long-term investment, considering the promise of its Synergy stent.

The imaging giant's $1.2 billion acquisition of intravascular assessment specialist Volcano deepens Philips' play in hospital cath labs and, Philips' CEO says in an interview, provides a combination of technology and know-how to create new catheter-based therapies for high-growth disease markets.

The cardiology sector, long known as one of the most innovative in medtech, has a new wave of technologies on the horizon that could help reinvigorate the sector and create new multibillion-dollar market opportunities for device manufacturers. We take a closer look at these technologies, which include vagal nerve stimulation, remote monitoring for heart failure, as well as innovation in the percutaneous coronary intervention space, all of which were all in the spotlight at the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress 2014 in Barcelona.