Another company interested in preventing the damage to intellect following CABG is ATSI. (As an aside, if you do any DD on ATSI you will likely find an investment based purely on it's open pivot heart valve will be a long term positive for your portfolio. imo)
http://www.atsmedical.com/ MINNEAPOLIS, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ATS Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATSI), a leader in mechanical heart valve technology and related cardiac surgical accessories, announced today that it has agreed to terms with Swedish research firm ErySave AB for exclusive development, licensing and marketing of a new patented health care technology for cardiac surgery procedures........ The platform, PARSUS, Particle Separation by Ultrasound, enables highly qualitative filtering, by ultrasound waves, of potentially dangerous particles suspended in blood. This technique could potentially be used in all patients requiring a cardiac surgery procedure such as heart valve replacement or repair and coronary artery by pass....... Open heart surgery results in the release of tiny particles of fat (lip micro emboli) into the patient's blood. In the brain, these particles can block fine capillaries, obstructing blood flow to vital areas resulting in oxygen deficit and potential neurological injury and dysfunction. The PARSUS technology effectively filters out these hazardous lipid microemboli by harmlessly separating them from the blood by ultrasound waves before the blood is transfused back into the patient. Elimination of these lipid microemboli particles makes autotransfusion more viable. Current methods of filtering the patient's blood, by centrifuge or filter, do not effectively remove these particles. http://www.erysave.com/site_flash.html