A report in the April 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association offered another glimpse into a clinical trial to evaluate expanded uses of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). In what is likely the first of its kind, the study is being conducted by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).

The New York Times revisited the controversy over chelation therapy, allowing the TACT (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) lead investigator Gervasio A. Lamas, MD, to share his observations: “If you had asked any cardiologist, to a man or to a woman, they would have said this study would be negative, and that included me and my associates. But it wasn’t, and that’s the one thing we should be focusing on.” Cardiology guru Eric Topol, MD, also weighs in.

The first patient in the United States has been implanted with the Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) next generation ImageReady™ MR Conditional pacing system in the SAMURAI clinical trial.

Carolinas HealthCare System’s Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute became the first in the world to implant a branched stent graft specifically designed for branch vessel repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms on Thursday. This is the first arch graft available in a clinical trial and both the device and surgical approach are novel.

A panel for the European Medicines Agency recommended that a strontium ranelate, a treatment for osteoporosis, be restricted because of possible increased risk of cardiac problems.

Endologix, Inc. (Nasdaq:ELGX), developer and marketer of innovative treatments for aortic disorders, announced today that Roderick de Greef will retire from the Board of Directors at the end of his current term, which ends on May 23, 2013, the date of the Company's annual shareholder meeting. Thomas F. Zenty, III will stand for election as a Class III director to fill the resulting vacant position at the upcoming annual shareholder meeting.

AtheroNova Inc. (OTCBB:AHRO), a biotech company focused on the research and development of compounds to safely regress atherosclerotic plaque and improve lipid profiles in humans, today announced that John Kastelein, MD, Ph.D., Chairman of the department of vascular medicine and Strategic Chair of Genetics in Cardiovascular Disease at the Academic Medicine Center of the University of Amsterdam, has joined the Company as a member of the Medical Advisory Board and will be a Co-Principal Investigator in the Company's upcoming clinical trials. 

A randomized clinical trial that compared prasugrel with ticagrelor in STEMI patients undergoing PCI offered differing results from previous studies that had been based on healthy volunteers or patients with stable coronary artery disease.