According to a recent study by the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, the last two decades have seen a substantial decline in new enteral access procedures in the Medicare population. The study, published online in November in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), also found that maintenance services have increased, with radiologists and emergency physicians surpassing gastroenterologists and surgeons as the leading providers of those procedures.

For patients with atrial fibrillation, the most common form of heart arrhythmia, a main goal of treatment is stroke prevention. As a result, most Afib patients are prescribed a blood thinner such as warfarin, also known by the brand name Coumadin, to combat the potential for blood clots that could lead to stroke. But warfarin is tough to manage, and some patients have trouble adhering to any medication. A new research letter published in JAMA Cardiology finds Afib patients are even more likely to discontinue warfarin therapy if they’ve had a recent procedure done to address their arrhythmia.

BioVentrix Inc. announced in December the first closed-chest Revivent TC TransCatheter Ventricular Enhancement System procedure in Germany since receiving CE mark certification. The Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement (LIVE) procedure was performed by interventional cardiologists Christian Frerker, M.D. and Tobias Schmidt, M.D., and by cardiothoracic surgeon Ralf Bader, M.D., at Asklepios Klinik St. Georg in Hamburg, Germany. The St. Georg Heart team is led by Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuck, who is also the chairman of the Department of Cardiology and Electrophysiology.

Ischemic heart failure from previous heart attacks and coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in the world, affecting more than 12 percent of the world’s population, according to the World Health Organization. Stem cell therapy has been conducted to try to repair heart damage from ischemic heart failure, but in previous studies, the two types of stem cells (autologous bone marrow derived mesenchymal cells [MSCs] and endomyocardial biopsy derived c-kit+ Cardiac Stem Cells [CSCs]) have been used in separate trials. In a first-in-the-world study, the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF) is about to begin the CONCERT study, led by Principal Investigator Jay Traverse, M.D. The study will use MSCs and CSCs together to learn if the combination would be more successful than using either alone based on pre-clinical studies in swine demonstrating an enhanced synergistic effect of the combination.