A recent analysis of Optim-insulated leads for implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) reported reassuring results. The study also highlights shortcomings—not with devices, but with people.

Medtronic  today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and commercial launch of two additional Attain Performa left ventricular (LV) quadripolar leads, which can be paired with the Medtronic Viva Quad XT and Viva Quad S cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D) to treat patients with heart failure. The newest additions to the Attain Performa lead portfolio, the S-shape and Straight leads, are designed to accommodate patients' varying vessel sizes and curvatures to enhance successful lead placement. Quadripolar leads (leads with four electrodes) help physicians optimize cardiac resynchronization therapy, which uses an implantable device to improve the pumping efficiency of the heart.

Analysis of St. Jude Medical’s Optim-insulated leads reveals low rates of mechanical failures, conductor fractures and all-cause abrasions by five years. “The bottom line of it all is that the results are very good,” the lead researcher told Cardiovascular Business.

For patients who received no shocks from an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) before the end of its battery life, it may be worth considering a new risk-benefit analysis.

One of medicine's most prominent experts in sudden cardiac arrest has received a new $2.36 million grant to study how to better predict the deadly heart condition that kills an estimated 300,000 Americans each year.

Aggressive management of risk factors may be the key to improving patient outcomes following ablation for atrial fibrillation. Findings published Dec. 2 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggest that in patients with a high body mass index and more than one cardiovascular risk factor, improved long-term outcomes are possible when several risk factors were addressed.

Atrial fibrillation patients taking digoxin may have a 71 percent higher risk of dying, according to a study published online Nov. 20 in Circulation: Arrythmia and Electrophysiology.

The official position for catheter ablation as a treatment for atrial fibrillation in a draft technology assessment report for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is “can’t tell yet.” The draft report is open for review through Dec. 8.