New results from the EXCEL trial, presented at the TCT conference in Denver, found that percutaneous coronary intervention and bypass graft surgery produce similar intermediate-term improvement in the quality-of-life scores of patients with left main coronary artery disease. The results are "testimony to how far PCI has come that it can now stand toe-to-toe with bypass surgery but also give patients a much more rapid recovery," one cardiologist said.

Medtech Insight's News We're Watching covers medtech industry and research news you may have missed. This week, the Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) conference in Florence, Italy, included new results from studies of Roche's continuous glucose monitor and Medtronic's 780G insulin pump, Medtronic moved closer to earning FDA approval for its Affera ablation mapping and ablation system, and Linus Health expanded its technology for finding signs of cognitive problems in speech data.

Medtech Insight's News We're Watching highlights some recent business and R&D developments you may have missed. This week, Biosense Webster’s Varipulse PFA platform earned a CE mark; Biosense Webster also announced the start the pivotal IDE study of its Laminar left atrial appendage elimination system; the FDA approved Boston Scientific's Agent paclitaxel-coated balloon and cleared Medtronic's OsteoCool 2.0 bone ablation system; three papers in Science Robotics describe magnetically controlled vascular robots that could go places wires and catheters cannot.