Failure rates for residents taking the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) examination overall took a hit since implementation of the 80-hour residency work week, according to a presentation May 7 at the annual American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) meeting in Minneapolis.

A less aggressive approach to anticoagulation therapy after implantation of a bileaflet mechanical valve appears to be safe, according to an interim report from the PROACT trial presented May 6 at the annual American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) meeting in Minneapolis.

Programming implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) with a longer detection time may be appropriate for many patients, based on results of the ADVANCE III trial.

The FDA added several options for physicians who treat patients with heart failure and arrhythmias with its back-to-back approvals of two implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) technologies.

Burton E. Sobel, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at University of Vermont College of Medicine (UMV) in Burlington, died May 3. He was 75 years old, according to Broomfield, Colo.-based ARCA biopharma, where he served on the board of directors.

Andrea Natale, MD, executive medical director of the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, is now affiliated with Al-Sabah Arrhythmia Institute at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City.

Statin users diagnosed with prostate cancer were less likely to die from the disease compared with nonstatin users, according to results of a prospective, population-based study published online May 1 in The Prostate.

UnitedHealth Group and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, in conjunction with Allina Health and the community of New Ulm, Minn., recently announced two grants from the company totaling more than $1 million. The grants will fund weight management and nutrition initiatives for Hearts Beat Back: The Heart of New Ulm Project (HONU), a research and demonstration project with a goal of reducing heart attacks in New Ulm, Minn.