[Image courtesy of Michela on Flickr, per Creative Commons 2.0 license]
The statistics terrify. About 610,000 Americans die of heart disease per year, and an additional 735,000 Americans suffer from a heart attack. High blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking are some of the top risk factors for heart disease, and 47% of Americans have at least one of these risk factors, according to the CDC.
About 1 in every 6 healthcare dollars is spent on cardiovascular disease, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. A recent RTI International study projected that cardiovascular disease will be the most expensive and common killer by 2035 if it continues to go unchecked. The American Heart Association supported study said that the number of people in the U.S. affected by cardiovascular disease will rise to 131.2 million and the healthcare costs are expected to almost double to $1.1 trillion from the 2016 average of $555B.
Since the prevalence of cardiovascular and heart-related diseases is expected to rise significantly, the interventional cardiology devices market is expected to grow, too. Grand View Research predicts it will be valued at more than $26 billion by 2020, while Market and Markets predicts it will be more than $31 billion by 2021. (The market was valued at $21.83B in 2016, with a consumer annual growth rate of 7.1%, according to Markets and Markets.)
There is good news, though: Recent months have seen a slew of major research advances related to new cardio devices and diagnostics, tissue engineering and the overall understanding of heart disease and its treatment.
Here are 9 innovations and recent breakthroughs you should know:
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