The FDA has approved the Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder as a minimally invasive treatment option for patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in newborns weighing as little as two pounds. According to its manufacturer, Abbott, it is the first such device in the world to be approved for babies so small.

Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center appointed a new president and restructured other staff after an investigation from the Houston Chronicle and ProPublica found mistakes at the Houston-based hospital’s heart transplant center led to patient deaths.

Public health insurance programs are covering an increasing number of heart transplant surgeries in the U.S., recent research suggests, meaning the outcomes of such procedures could hinge on decisions made by the federal government.

Patients with atrial fibrillation can safely continue oral anticoagulation (OAC) while undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), suggests a retrospective study published Jan. 7 in the American Journal of Cardiology.

Tafamidis, Pfizer’s treatment for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), has been granted a priority review designation from the FDA, potentially speeding its path to approval.

Adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) report better health-related quality of life (HRQoL) when treated with surgical or catheter interventions rather than drug therapy or surveillance, according to research published Jan. 8 in the American Journal of Cardiology.

One in five patients who required emergency surgery to correct complications caused by diagnostic angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) died within 30 days, researchers reported in a single-center study from Germany.

Participating in telemedicine for ischemic stroke care could modestly lower a hospital’s rate of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA)-related complications and in-hospital mortality, researchers reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Although childhood cancer survival has improved markedly over the past few decades, a new study out of the Netherlands suggests a greater proportion of those survivors are at risk of developing heart failure at young ages, due in part to cardiotoxic treatments.

Research published in Stroke Jan. 10 suggests clinicians overestimate the severity of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and underestimate the severity of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), resulting in a bias that could influence patients’ outcomes and treatment plans.