The American Heart Association and Children’s Heart Foundation are dedicating $776,000 to four upcoming research projects focused on congenital heart defects (CHDs), the AHA announced in late October.

Intermediate-risk transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) patients see fewer strokes, deaths and encephalopathies than those who undergo surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), researchers reported in the Oct. 30 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provides reassurance that TAVR is a safe alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in low-risk patients, as zero of the 200 people undergoing the transcatheter procedure died or experienced a disabling stroke within 30 days.

Nonfemoral access routes for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are associated with significantly higher 30-day mortality rates for frail patients but not among other older adults, according to a post hoc analysis of the FRAILTY-AVR study published in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Heart valve surgery patients, including those who undergo aortic and mitral interventions, are at risk of temporary cognitive decline for up to six months after their procedure, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society this week.

Socioeconomic factors—namely a mother’s insurance status and level of education—weigh heavily on Hispanic infants’ chances of surviving critical congenital heart disease (CHD) in their first year of life, a study out of the University of California, San Francisco suggests.

The GALILEO trial has been stopped after an early look at outcomes revealed rivaroxaban was associated with greater odds of thromboembolic events, all-cause death and bleeding events compared to antiplatelet therapy following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis are at greater risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality if they have higher peak aortic jet velocities or left ventricular ejection fractions (LVEFs) below 60 percent, researchers reported Oct. 3 in JAMA Cardiology.