The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a Grade I recommendation for screening peripheral artery disease (PAD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk with the ankle-brachial index (ABI), indicating current evidence is insufficient to recommend screening without signs or symptoms of disease.

New ultra-thin drug-eluting stents (DES) are associated with a 16 percent reduction in target lesion failure (TLF) at one year compared to thicker-strut, second-generation DES, according to a meta-analysis published June 26 in Circulation.

A triple therapy approach of warfarin, clopidogrel and aspirin substantially reduces the risk of ischemic stroke and stent thrombosis compared to dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), according to a meta-analysis of patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) undergoing coronary stenting. However, the three-medication strategy is associated with a higher bleeding risk.

Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery guided by fractional flow reserve (FFR) significantly reduced the incidence of death or myocardial infarction when compared to angiography-guided CABG, according to an observational study with an average follow-up of seven years.

Nitric oxide administration during and after multiple-valve heart surgery significantly reduced patients’ chances of developing acute and chronic kidney problems, according to a randomized trial published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Sunil V. Rao, MD, will become the editor-in-chief of the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions on July 1.

A multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and patients teamed up to provide guidelines on how many opioid painkillers should be prescribed following specific procedures.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a “smart stent” that can monitor hemodynamic changes in the artery and warn clinicians of restenosis at its earliest stages.