Traditional fingerstick screening for glucose and lipids is proving inadequate when identifying near-term cardiovascular risk in employed populations, according to Jake Orville, CEO of Cleveland HeartLab (CHL). This position is supported by data from the American Heart Association. AHA reported 50 percent of all heart attacks and strokes occur in individuals with normal cholesterol and – for approximately 30 percent of patients with cardiovascular disease – their first sign of disease is death.

Achieving real quality improvement and reducing costs means re-evaluating what constitutes value, according to a new paper e-published in the journal Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions (CCI). A new formula to define value, as presented in the paper, equates “real value” with appropriateness together with clinically defined outcomes and patient-expected outcomes relative to costs.

On-X Life Technologies Inc.  received CE marking for an expanded labeling claim of its On-X Prosthetic Heart Valve. The company may market its mechanical heart valve in Europe with areduced requirement for the use of blood-thinning drugs such as warfarin. The On-X Plus 1.5 Aortic Heart Valve allows patients to be managed at INR (international normalized ratio) levels as low as 1.5.

Aetna issued a positive coverage policy for long-term continuous monitoring of patients with suspected heart arrhythmias, which includes use of the iRhythm Technologies’ ZIO Service. The new policy now makes iRhythm’s solution – comprised of the ZIO Patch, proprietary algorithms and the ZIO report – available as a potential covered service for the insurer’s medical members.

Scientists at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai may have developed a tissue model for the human heart that can bridge the gap between animal models and human clinical trial patients. Mount Sinai researchers generated their engineered cardiac tissue from human embryonic stem cells. The resulting muscle has remarkable similarities to native heart muscle, including the ability to beat and contract like the human heart. This research study was highlighted as the cover story of the February 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal.

CardioDx Inc. is a molecular diagnostics company specializing in cardiovascular genomics. It published an analysis demonstrating that the Corus CAD gene expression score is significantly associated with plaque burden and luminal stenosis. The holds true in symptomatic patients being evaluated for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), as measured by CT-angiography. The study, "A Peripheral Blood Gene Expression Score is Associated with Atherosclerotic Plaque Burden and Stenosis by Cardiovascular CT-Angiography," appears online in the journal Atherosclerosis.

Biotronik, a manufacturer of implantable cardiac devices and wireless remote monitoring technologies, has been added to the list of cardiac rhythm management (CRM) device suppliers to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).


Advancements in technologies are paving the way for many healthcare providers to connect with patients outside their hospitals more quickly and efficiently. For cardiology departments, technologies that allow for video collaboration, rapid transmission of scans and images and other forms of telemedicine are supporting the initiative to improve productivity, an initiative many are striving for as the U.S. healthcare landscape continues reform.

At Johnston Medical Center in Smithfield N.C., StatVideo’s EchoCart streams real-time images of babies’ hearts and live video conferencing over the web to pediatric cardiologists at Duke Children’s Hospital. EchoCart is a telemedicine system designed specifically for tele-echocardiography.

Subscribe to
© Copyright Wainscot Media. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe Now