Boston Scientific has announced six-month positive results from its ongoing pivotal MODULAR ATP clinical trial examining the company’s modular cardiac rhythm management (mCRM) technology.

The findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine detail how the system successfully met its primary and secondary endpoints in terms of safety and efficacy, seeing 97.5% of participants experience no complications following the procedure, with an anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) success rate of 61.3%.

The Boston Scientific device consists of an Emblem subcutaneous implantable defibrillator (S-ICD) system and Empower leadless pacemaker (LP) which coordinate painless intracardiac anti-tachycardia pacing.

Cardiology and Electrophysiology consultant for Boston Scientific, Reinoud Knops said: “We saw excellent overall clinical performance of the mCRM System in this study, including a high rate of communication success from the S-ICD to the leadless pacemaker, and a low rate of major leadless pacemaker complications.

“These findings are noteworthy, as high percentages of communication success and pain-free termination of spontaneous arrhythmia episodes indicate a potential upgrade pathway for patients currently implanted with an S-ICD who develop a need for ATP or pacing.”

Boston Scientfic’s findings were presented before an audience at the Boston-based Heart Rhythm 2024 conference where the company also revealed results from its APPRAISE ATP clinical trial, a prospective, randomised, multicenter study evaluating ATP as a method of treating ventricular tachycardias in primary prevention (PP) patients. That trial has enrolled 2,626 patients indicated to receive an ICD at 134 centres worldwide.

Research by GlobalData details how the wearable technology market is forecast to grow from $99.5bn in 2022 to $290.6bn in 2030.

Kenneth Stein, chief medical officer for Boston Scientific, said: “Together, data from the MODULAR ATP and APPRAISE ATP trials reinforce the promise of the groundbreaking mCRM System, illustrating a clear path forward for physicians to offer therapies that prevent sudden cardiac death and deliver ATP for the small number of patients who benefit from it.

“Instead of subjecting all patients to the risks of more invasive approaches, such as placing leads in the heart or tunnelling them under the sternum to provide therapies they might not require, these data indicate physicians may have the opportunity to tailor therapy to the patient’s individual needs and health.”

Elsewhere in the field of anti-tachycardia pacing, health tech company Element Science has received an EU CE mark certification and UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marketing for its own digital wearable defibrillator. At the same time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Medtronic’s Aurora EV-ICD MRI SureScan extravascular implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

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LOWELL – Game 1 of the inaugural Walter Cup Finals in women’s hockey went to Boston in front of their home crowd for a moment bigger than sports. It was a history-making moment.

The first-ever playoff finals round of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) took place between Boston and Minnesota.

Playing to a sold out crowd

“This is such a wonderful venue, such a wonderful event and people are so enthusiastic and the team is great,” said Boston hockey fan Joellen in disbelief, watching a sold out crowd support women living a dream that for her felt so far away. “I never thought that this would be possible for me to see when I was a little girl.”

And the players put on a show. The teams went toe-to-toe, swapping goals all game, but Boston took the win, 4-3.

Women’s hockey league making history

“It’s a huge responsibility to establish a legacy here in Boston,” said PWHL Boston’s captain, Hilary Knight. Boston is one of six teams spearheading year one of the professional league. “To finally break through and have this historic year, it means everything.”

Now the tournament is down to two, with a trophy on the line and an MVP award named after the league’s biggest supporter and a history maker herself.

“What’s happening in women’s sports now is people think about investing in us,” said Billie Jean King, who was in attendance for the game at Tsongas Center in Lowell. “We were the leaders, the first ones. It’s different now, there’s a lot more people who believe in us. The players are organized, there’s associations, there’s unions now, they know how to fight.”

A fight that continues on and off the ice.

“Girls now have the dream. Now girls have the dream to play professional hockey in the PWHL,” said King.

PWHL Boston and PWHL Minnesota will be back at the Tsongas Center for game 2 on Tuesday night and once again, a packed house is expected.

On Monday, Haitian Americans like Lucien will be one step closer to this vision during the groundbreaking of the Toussaint Louverture Cultural Center, which is slated to open in the North End later this year. It will serve as a meeting place for community organizations to gather and artists to hone their craft, and as a tourist spot for travelers looking to learn more about Haitian culture.

“This is a first-of-a-kind opportunity for not just Haitians, but fellow Bostonians and people within the region to forge city, state, and even international partnerships,” said Dr. Elizabeth Farrah Louis, a Massachusetts General Hospital psychologist who co-chairs the cultural center’s executive committee.

In the late 18th century, Toussaint Louverture was a formerly enslaved man-turned-general who, in Haiti, led the only successful slave revolt in modern history.

The cultural center’s groundbreaking comes at a pivotal time as thousands of Haitian migrants fleeing humanitarian crises in their home country are arriving in the Greater Boston area at rapid speed. The ongoing unrest has pushed the existing infrastructure to its limits as political, religious, and community leaders scramble to meet the immediate needs of new arrivals. From October 2022 to September 2023, Haitians made up three in four migrants logged in state records, but the numbers are likely much larger. Thus, advocates of the Toussaint Louverture Cultural Center say the influx of Haitian migrants makes the space’s opening even more significant — as a physical reminder of what the nation’s third-largest Haitian community has to offer to Boston.

“What currently is a part of the public narrative in Boston is migrants coming and taking up housing and space and resources in the city,” said Aisha Revolus, a member of the space’s executive committee. “But at this cultural center, we’re going to provide. We’re changing the narrative.”

The Haitian community’s history in Greater Boston spans decades. They have come in waves since at least the late ‘50s, when wealthier families and students fleeing François “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s rule resettled in the metropolitan area. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act helped more Haitians emigrate from their home country, and thousands have arrived in Boston in the decades since. Nearly 29,000 Bostonians reported Haitian ancestry as of 2021, according to a Boston Planning and Development Agency analysis of census data.

Despite their long-lasting imprint on the region, their access to political, economic, and social power has only recently materialized, said at-large City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, the first Haitian American elected to Boston City Council, in 2021.

“Better late than never,” Louijeune said. “Physical infrastructure will continue to fortify the infrastructure of the diaspora, and hopefully, this center will help us get there.”

The idea of a cultural center spans several years, but it started to become a reality when, in 2016, the Boston Planning and Development Agency, or BPDA, searched for a civic organization to occupy a 2,000-square-foot brick-and-mortar space at the Lovejoy Wharf luxury condominiums.

The successful BPDA bid comes with a free 25-year lease, to be renewed every five years, and a $50,000 grant for renovations.

Louis said about a quarter of the center will be a visitor’s space with information about Boston’s Haitian community. The rest of the site will include a conference room, cafe, function hall, library, and gift shop.

Lucien, an executive committee member, and Louis said the group set a $250,000 fund-raising goal for its first year. It has collected $18,000 so far, on top of the grant that came from the bid.

“We have to fund-raise for positions like the executive director, program director, and other sort of staff,” Louis said.

Located at 131 Beverly St., at the juncture of Boston’s North End and West End neighborhoods, the Toussaint Louverture Cultural Center will have “huge exposure to tourists,” Lucien said. It will be a four-minute walk for Celtics and Bruins fans attending games at TD Garden, concertgoers and clubbers at Big Night Live, and Amtrak and MBTA commuters at North Station.

Its location will not only help them generate consistent revenue to keep the center’s doors open but also “engage the neighborhood on who we are as Haitian Americans,” Lucien said.

Revolus, who works in communications full time, said the hub will be important for non-Haitians to learn about the country’s rich history; and it will teach generations of their own community about themselves, too.

Revolus, 25, went through Boston Public Schools where Haiti’s contributions were a footnote in her textbooks, and many students were ashamed of being Haitian because of the negative stereotypes that people place on her community.

But through volunteering her communications and graphics skills to the cultural center’s committee, she’s learned from Haitian elders about historical moments like war hero General Francois Capois’ displays of valor in the Haitian Revolution, or demonstrators’ symbolic toss of a Christopher Columbus statue into Port-au-Prince’s harbor.

“My hope is that people like me who are younger can connect with other young folks from Haiti and across the diaspora to talk about our shared heritage and culture,” she said.

The upcoming cultural center follows other Haitian-focused organizations that have popped up in Boston in recent decades. The Haitian Multi-Services Center opened in Dorchester in the late ‘70s to help immigrants secure housing, boost literacy, and find work. Perhaps more well known is the Immigrant Family Services Institute along Blue Hill Avenue, which has led the local response to Haiti’s ongoing unrest. But most of these places’ primary mission is to provide wraparound services to Haitian immigrants, to help newcomers get on their feet.

“Of course, we still need places that respond to these needs,” Lucien said. “But we now need a place that is promoting who we are.”

Tiana Woodard is a Report for America corps member covering Black neighborhoods. She can be reached at tiana.woodard@globe.com. Follow her @tianarochon.