The Organization for Occupational Safety in Interventional Fluoroscopy (ORSIF) announced the release of a new documentary film on the impact of chronic, low-level exposure to ionizing radiation on physicians that practice interventional medicine in fluoroscopy labs. The documentary features noted heart surgeon Edward Diethrich, M.D., founder of the Arizona Heart Foundation.

 

 


People with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who undergo an angioplasty procedure and receive a heart stent are prescribed an oral antiplatelet (OAP) therapy and aspirin to help prevent a heart attack, a blood clot in their heart stent (stent thrombosis), or even death.[3]


A retrospective review of 633 adults and children who underwent bioprosthetic pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) for congenital heart disease between 1996 and 2014 indicated that the risk of re-intervention was five times greater for children than adults. In addition, the likelihood of re-intervention decreased by 10 percent for each increasing year of age at surgery. Valve type was another important determinant of re-intervention, according to Rio S. Nomoto, BA, medical student at Tufts University School of Medicine, who presented the results of this research at the 95th American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Annual Meeting in Seattle on April 28.

The Spectranetics Corporation announced it is accelerating investments in the Stellarex drug-coated balloon angioplasty (DCB) platform for treatment of below the knee (BTK) peripheral artery disease. The company estimates this will represent a $150 million market opportunity by 2020.


Ultrasound can increase the rate at which heart cells beat, researchers from Drexel University report. In their paper “Ultrasound-Induced Modulation of Cardiac Rhythm in Neonatal Rat Ventricular Cardiomyocytes,” published ahead-of-print in the Journal of Applied Physiology, they describe the ultrasound settings that can change the beat frequency of cardiac cells.



Hospitals with electronic health records (EHRs) for ischemic stroke patients did not demonstrate better quality of care or clinical outcomes for those patients when compared to similar hospitals without EHRs, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.



Medtronic plc announced the start of a clinical study to determine whether paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) can be treated with a combination of two ablation procedures targeting different anatomical locations – specifically, the pulmonary veins and the renal arteries. Study patients will also receive an implantable cardiac monitor to track their heart rhythm on an automatic and continuous basis. AF is a cardiac rhythm disorder affecting an estimated 2.7 million people in the U.S.


Biotronik announced that a unique physiologic sensor is now available in the latest family of cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) devices. Closed Loop Stimulation (CLS) is the only cardiac sensor capable of appropriately adapting heart rate in response to physiologic demands independent of body movements or respiratory rate.

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