Beaumont Health System is the first center outside of Japan to use a new balloon ablation technology to treat atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder that affects about 3 million people in the U.S.

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), today announced that the Medtronic SureScan(r) pacing systems - the first and only pacing systems in the United States that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - are now approved for MRI scans positioned on any region of the body. Patients implanted with the Advisa DR MRI(r) or Revo MRI(r) SureScan pacing systems now can have MRI scans without positioning restrictions, including the chest area, which previously had been restricted.

CSL Behring today announced that Kcentra® (Prothrombin Complex Concentrate [Human]) has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for an expanded indication -- urgent reversal of acquired coagulation factor deficiency induced by vitamin K antagonist (VKA, e.g., warfarin) therapy in adult patients needing an urgent surgery or other invasive procedure. Kcentra, approved by the FDA in April 2013 for the urgent reversal of warfarin therapy in adult patients with acute major bleeding, is the only non-activated 4-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4F-PCC) indicated in the U.S. for these uses.

Results for a pilot registry on the management and treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) in Europe were presented yesterday by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). AF is the commonest cardiac rhythm disorder and each of us have a one-in-four lifetime risk of developing it. Statistics show that oral anticoagulant use has increased, but new oral anticoagulant (NOAC) use is still low. Authors also concluded that compliance with treatment guidelines for patients with the lowest and higher stroke risk scores remains suboptimal.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a new technology that could dramatically reduce the number of open-heart surgeries for people with pacemakers.

New research shows that Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) pacemakers with enhanced pacing features have the ability to slow the progression of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with bradycardia, or a slow heartbeat.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced results showing that its investigational fully humanized antibody fragment (Fab) rapidly reversed the anticoagulation effect of dabigatran in healthy male volunteers. These results, presented today during the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013, represent the first clinical data involving the compound, which was discovered and developed by the company (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01955720).

The American Heart Association has presented one of its highest honors, the Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award, to cardiologist and medical professor Mark Josephson, M.D., of Harvard Medical School.