Women with a history of cardiotoxicity from previous cancer treatments are around 30 percent more likely to experience clinical congestive heart failure (CHF) before, during or after pregnancy, according to research published ahead of print in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Despite the myth of a “weekend effect” in cardiac surgery—the idea that patients discharged from the hospital on weekends and holidays face higher readmission rates—a team of UCLA researchers concluded that heart patients face a similar risk of readmission regardless of the day of week they’re discharged.

CMS is reconsidering its reimbursement practices for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) at the request of the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association, which authored a joint letter urging the agency to cover ABPM for a broader range of indications.

Cardiovascular disease remains the world’s No. 1 killer, responsible for a third of global deaths every year. But, though the overall burden of CVD in developed countries is on a downward trajectory, cases of heart disease are actually increasing in some corners of the world.

Robert B. Ford has been named president and chief operating officer of Abbott, the company announced Oct. 15.

Heart valve surgery patients, including those who undergo aortic and mitral interventions, are at risk of temporary cognitive decline for up to six months after their procedure, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society this week.

Harvard Medical School scientists have created a wirelessly programmed, miniaturized pacemaker which functions for weeks to months at a time, opening the door to “previously impossible investigations of arrhythmia and heart failure in the mouse.”

Indian-American cardiologist and serial entrepreneur Kiran Patel announced he’s investing $60 million in Concept Medical Inc., a company looking to test its novel sirolimus-coated balloon.

Experienced operators in Europe are treating chronic total occlusions (CTOs) with increasing procedural success despite attempting more complex lesions over time, according to a report from the European Registry of CTO published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.

The shorter a patient’s hospital stay after elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the better, according to recent research out of the U.K. that linked longer lengths of stay to an increase in unplanned readmissions and healthcare costs.