As reimbursement for cardiac valve surgeries diminishes, so do the profit margins for hospitals that traditionally rely on such procedures to offset Medicaid and other money-losing aspects of patient care. To contain costs, hospitals are implementing financial incentives and other strategies to align physicians interests with their own. In the long run, this strategy may lead hospitals to greater harmony with cardiac surgeons as well as suppliers.

An important clinical link exists between influenza and cardiovascular disease. While no unequivocal causal relationship has been established between influenza infection and acute MI, influenza is estimated to be responsible for approximately 36,000 deaths and 300,000 hospitalizations annually in the U.S. Childhood and chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, in adults are risk factors for poor outcomes during influenza epidemics.

WASHINGTON, D.C.Sonna M. Patel-Raman, of the FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health, explained the FDA application process for new medical devices, such as transcatheter heart valves, from pre-submission to investigational device exemption (IDE) to application submission during a Feb. 6 presentation at the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) meeting.

When diet and exercise fail in treating type 2 diabetes in patients, metformin may be the drug of choice, according to guideline recommendations by members of the American College of Physicians (ACP). ACP members found metformin to have fewer side effects than sulfonylureas, and the cost of the drug may also be less.

Edwards Lifesciences, a developer of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring, has reported an increase in net income in the fiscal year of 2011, compared with 2010, and a slight decrease in net income for the 2011 fourth quarter over the previous year's fourth quarter.

Abiomed, a developer of heart support technologies, has reported an upward trend in the third quarter of 2012, compared with the third quarter of 2011, bolstered by strong sales of Impella.

St. Jude Medical has reported slight increases in net earnings for the fourth quarter and year ending Dec. 31, 2011, despite a dip in cardiac rhythm management (CRM) sales. However, double-digit sale increases for both the fourth quarter and fiscal year for the atrial fibrillation and cardiovascular units bolstered the company.

Having heightened risk factors such as elevated blood pressure or cholesterol, among others, significantly increases a patient's lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a meta-analysis published in the Jan. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.