Decreasing in-hospital cardiac morbidity and mortality is attainable and should be part of quality improvement efforts, researchers say.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Special care should be directed to female patients presenting to the cath lab with symptomatic premature coronary artery disease (CAD), as young females have high rates of comorbidities and their long-term procedural outcomes are poor compared with younger males.

Spironolactone, a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, showed some clinical efficacy as a treatment for heart failure (HF) patients with preserved ejection fraction although it offered no improvements in symptoms after one year. But an accompanying editorial questioned whether the study population truly was experiencing HF.

A study of all Danish survivors with implanted recalled Riata implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) leads found that 11 percent of the leads had externalized.

People at high risk of MI, stroke and death from cardiovascular (CV) causes may have a recipe for avoiding these events, according to a study published online Feb. 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers reported that a Mediterranean diet augmented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts reduced risk by 30 percent.

A modified crossover technique for vascular access closure in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is safe, according to a study published in the March issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.

The FDA has approved Biotronik's Lumax 740 DX System, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) that uses a single lead with atrial sensing capabilities.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Sanjit Jolly, MD, lead investigator of the RIVAL trial, presented a case during the Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) annual meeting Feb. 24 that radial access should be the preferred approach when operators treat female patients. However, a large randomized trial is assessing that exact question.