St. Jude Medical put aside $15 million to privately settle about 950 claims and other disputes over its Riata and Riata ST leads, the company reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Long-term results from a French study on persistent atrial fibrillation suggest that a stepwise catheter ablation strategy may terminate atrial fibrillation in some patients for as long as five years after a procedure.

High-resolution imaging may get physicians closer to the areas that most need epicardial ablation when addressing ventricular tachycardia (VT). Real-time multidetector CT to assist with epicardial ablation proved useful for determining optimal ablation while avoiding coronary arteries and phrenic nerves.

The FDA approved St. Jude Medical’s FlexAbility Ablation Catheter for use in the U.S. This follows on the heels of last year’s CE mark approval of the device. 

The number of atrial fibrillation patients on dialysis given novel oral anticoagulants is growing. Research shows that dabigatran and rivaroxaban are increasingly being used by patients with atrial fibrillation on dialysis, despite concerns about creatinine clearance in this population.

Johnson & Johnson will give outside researchers access to clinical data on diagnostics and medical devices through Yale University, but the largesse applies only to products approved in 2014 or later. That makes the ThermoCool SmartTouch catheter available for scrutiny, the New York Times reports. 

Abbott wrapped up 2014 by completing its acquisition of Topera, a company that develops electrophysiology technologies to diagnose and treat patients with atrial fibrillation.

Anticoagulation therapy may have a greater benefit to patients with atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease than risk. However, balancing the two may be about finding the right course of treatment for the right duration.