The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has intervened with the False Claims Act filed against the Satilla Regional Heart Center in Waycross, Ga., after Najam Azmat, MD, allegedly submitted claims to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for unnecessary services that he was neither qualified nor credentialed to performa patient died as a result.

Carotid artery stenting with a proximal cerebral protection device in patients presenting with string sign at carotid angiography is a feasible, safe solution and exhibits low complication rates compared to carotid endarterectomy, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Use of the Mo.Ma proximal cerebral protection device (Invatec) with FDA-approved carotid stents in high-risk patients are 98 percent effective and proved to decrease the risk of stroke, according to results of the ARMOUR trial presented by Barry T. Katzen, MD, at the 35th annual Society of Interventional Radiology Scientific Meeting March 15.

In patients undergoing carotid artery stenting, use of the FiberNet Embolic Protection System (EPS) proved 97.5 percent effective and put stroke rate levels below the American Heart Associations (AHA) standard of 3 percent following carotid endarterectomy, according to the EPIC trial published online March 3 in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.

Hospitals that participate in the Get With The GuidelinesStroke initiative have narrowed the age-related gaps in care and outcomes for acute ischemic stroke patients in all age groups, but particularly benefiting the elderly, according to a study published online Feb. 8 in Circulation.

Current data from nonrandomized studies suggest that thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) may reduce early death, paraplegia, renal insufficiency, transfusions, reoperation for bleeding, cardiac complications, pneumonia and length of stay compared with open surgery, according to a meta-analysis published online Feb. 3 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Yet, the authors noted that sustained benefits on survival have not been proven.

C. R. Bard has reported an increase in net income for the fiscal year 2009, despite an earnings dip in the 2009 fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31.

The FDA and ev3 Endovascular have issued a Class I recall of the Trailblazer support catheter, because the device may crack near the radiopaque marker band, resulting in serious patient injury, including insufficient oxygen supply to the tissues, damage to blood vessels, heart attack, limb amputation, unplanned surgery and/or death.