Police now say the fatal bicyclist-on-bicyclist shooting of Mark Hausknecht, MD, former cardiologist to George H.W. Bush, was the product of a over a surgery that left the attacker's mother dead. (CNN)
for the Inpatient Prospective Payment System for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 includes a 3.8% increase in reimbursement for cardiovascular broadly, a 0.8% increase for ventricular assist devices and a 0.4% increase for carotid stents, as well as a new technology add-on payment for the Sentinel, a distal protection device for transcatheter aortic valve replacement. (Trends-in-Medicine's , subscription)
for abdominal aortic aneurysm in the same way as men "is unlikely to be cost-effective" by U.K. standards, researchers reported in The Lancet.
got FDA clearance for use in diagnosing acute myocardial infarction. (Cardiovascular Business) The first high-sensitivity Troponin T test was cleared last year, as ľֱ reported.
If India adopted the new U.S. blood pressure guidelines, it would , compared with the 43% relative increase reported in the United States. (JAMA Internal Medicine)
among asymptomatic people without overt heart disease is linked to adverse cardiac remodeling that often precedes heart failure, researchers reported in Circulation. The BBC has .
was already associated with clinically silent structural and functional changes in the heart on MRI. (Arthritis & Rheumatology)
Compounds that mimic choline to (trimethylamine N-oxide) by microbes in the gut reduced "hyperresponsive" platelet function and inhibited excess blood clot formation with little increased risk for bleeding, a mouse model study reported in Nature Medicine.
The FDA cleared the way for a small feasibility trial for the for treating ventricular tachycardia. (MassDevice)
The agency also gave the clearance for use. (CNBC)
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it is reviewing the possible risk to patients from , which it estimated could have caused one extra case of cancer for every 5,000 patients taking it at the highest dose for 7 years.
The EMA also cleared the (for intracranial vessels 1 mm to 2.5 mm in diameter in medium vessel occlusions) and the for below-the-knee peripheral artery disease. (Cardiovascular Business, FierceBiotech)
An advisory panel of the EMA reconfirmed its recommendation for prevention of venous thromboembolism after an appeal.
Higher levels of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor associated with brain health in may also be heart protective, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences meeting in San Antonio. (Cardiovascular Business)
A New Jersey cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology was sentenced to over billing the VA system for $238,230 in services never performed, the U.S. Attorney's office there announced.
Several cardiothoracic surgery societies united on an . (STS.org)