Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) continued to hold its own against surgery in low-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis, based on two-year results presented May 19 at EuroPCR in Paris.

This is the month for subspecialty cardiology conferences in the U.S., with two major meetings setting anchors on each coast.

The Prairie Heart Institute at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois, has become the first cardiac catheterization laboratory in Illinois to achieve ACE accreditation. It is also one of the highest volume facilities to achieve this notable accomplishment.

Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and diabetes who underwent treatment with a drug-coated balloon fared better than counterparts who received standard care, according to a subanalysis of the IN.PACT SFA trial.

At five years, the Zilver PTX stent proved to be a durable treatment for peripheral artery disease with sustained benefit, results presented Nov. 4 at the 2014 Vascular Interventional Advances (VIVA) meeting showed.

Shockwaves appear to have early success in breaking up calcified lesions safely. In research presented Nov. 5 at the 2014 Vascular Interventional Advances (VIVA) meeting in Las Vegas, a lithotripsy-with-balloon technique used on peripheral artery lesions resulted in all patients achieving less than 50 percent stenosis. 

Covidien announced 12-month results of the DEFINITIVE AR study, the first randomized study designed to identify the clinical benefits of plaque removal using directional atherectomy followed by drug coated balloon. The results were presented by Professor Thomas Zeller of the Universitaets-Herzzentrum, Bad Krozingen, Germany at the Vascular Interventional Advances (VIVA) 2014 conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

GE Healthcare has installed Cath Lab Efficiency Manager at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO , a new analytical tool that analyzes the performance of an interventional lab providing hospitals with important data they can use to identify areas of improvement.  Cath Lab Efficiency Manager provides a near-real-time dashboard which displays measures of inefficiency and identifies the factors impacting performance. The tool visualizes where changes can be made to help increase productivity and help improve patient care.