The University of Colorado and miRagen Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company, have entered into a research and licensing agreement to evaluate and develop miRNA-based therapeutics and gene expressions for heart failure (HF) patients.

Patients treated at the top-rated hospitals had a 72 percent lower risk of dying when compared with patients at the lowest-rated hospitalsan enormous gap that has held steady over the past years even as overall mortality rates have improved, according to a HealthGrades study, released Oct. 20, on patient outcomes at U.S. hospitals.

A five-year $11.6 million contract from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio will focus on research pertaining to a blood test that may have the ability to diagnose MI survivors who suffer from heart failure (HF).

Since CMS began publicly reporting hospital readmission rates for heart failure in 2009, a greater emphasis has been placed on quality initiatives that can help curb them. But are readmission rates the best metric by which to judge hospital quality?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed revisions for Medicare coverage to include ventricular assist devices (VAD) as a destination therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure who are not candidates for transplant.

Heart transplant patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may have similar short-term survival compared to those with ischemic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy, but they have greater long-term survival rates, according to a study published in this months Circulation: Heart Failure.

The Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles will provide a team-based approach to managing and treating heart failure with its 350-bed in-patient advanced heart failure unit.

As people age, their stem cells also age, diminishing their functionality. Many studies conducted to determine the efficacy of cardiac stem cell therapy have used donor cells from younger patients. These cells are healthy and readily adopt the cardiogenic phenotype researchers are interested in. The problem with that approach, however, is that in clinical trials, researchers want to use patients' stem cells, but they can't expect to have similar results as with younger donor cells. The answer is to find a way to manipulate autologous cells so they regain their "youthful" function.Author: Atta Behfar, MD