According to the National Association of County and City Health Officials, only 33 percent of the organizations plan against cybersecurity threats and initiate patient identity protection protocols.

As the National Association of County and City Health Officials state, healthcare breaches remained to be costly and disastrous for the organizations in 2018. Each patient record exposure can cost up to $400, and hackers always try to access the medical information of hundreds of thousands of patients at once.

Abbott announced the launch of a new, smarter heart monitor for better arrhythmia detection — positive news for people at risk for irregular heartbeats. Now with CE Mark in Europe and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance, the next-generation Confirm Rx insertable cardiac monitor (ICM), a paperclip-sized implantable device, combines smartphone connectivity and continuous, remote monitoring to track unpredictable heart rhythm problems for fast and accurate diagnosis.

May 6, 2019 — The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Boston Scientific Vici Venous Stent System for the treatment of iliofemoral venous obstructive disease. These blockages occur when the flow of blood through the veins located deep in the pelvic region becomes blocked by a blood clot or compressed by anatomical anomalies.

May 6, 2019 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tafamidis meglumine (Vyndaqel) and tafamidis (Vyndamax) capsules for the treatment of the cardiomyopathy caused by transthyretin mediated amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) in adults. These are the first FDA-approved treatments for ATTR-CM. 

Innovation in Cardiovascular Interventions (ICI)

Bioengineers have cleared a major hurdle on the path to 3-D printing replacement organs with a breakthrough technique for bioprinting tissues. The new innovation allows scientists to create exquisitely entangled vascular networks that mimic the body's natural passageways for blood, air, lymph and other vital fluids.

A discussion with Gianluca Pontone, M.D., Ph.D., FSCCT, director of cardiovascular MRI, Centro Cardiologico Manzino, Milan, Italy, at the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2018 meeting. He said CT can be comparable to the gold-standards of nuclear and MRI perfusion depending on the scanner used to acquire the images. 

Cath lab staff working as a team to prepare for a procedure at Presbyterian Medical Center Cardiac Cath Lab, Charlotte N.C. Pictured are Barry Horsey RCIS, Emily Luna RN, RCIS, Adam Martin RCIS, Caleadia Jessup RN.
Cath lab techs and nurses working as a team to prepare a hybrid OR at the University of Colorado Hospital for a MitraClip procedure. Recruiting and retaining good cath lab staff, nurses and tech can be a difficult job.

One of the most promising areas for innovation in healthcare is to be found in the workforce – both in hiring and retention. But for years, healthcare has endured high turnover, and the trend seems to be accelerating. According to a study by National Healthcare Retention and RN Staffing Report,[1] the average hospital turnover rate in 2017 was 18.2 percent, the highest recorded turnover in the industry for almost a decade. Since 2013, the average hospital turned over 85.2 percent of its workforce.

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery may be the best treatment option for most patients with more than one blocked heart artery, according to research published online in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

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