Noting that prompt intervention is critical to the outcomes for patients with STEMI, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology issued new STEMI treatment guidelines that urged adoption of several measures to speed treatment to restore blood flow to the heart.

Evidence continues to point favorably to the efficacy and safety of renal denervation as a treatment for resistant hypertensive patients. Findings from Symplicity HTN-2, published Dec. 18 in Circulation, showed benefits persisted at one-year while control patients who crossed over to renal denervation after the six-month primary endpoint was met experienced drops in blood pressure similar to the treatment group.

Health Canada has approved Covidien's Solitaire FR revascularization device, which is used to restore blood flow to the brain in patients suffering from acute ischemic stroke.

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Not so, at least when it comes to cardiac care. Recent research and practice point to the kidneys as a pathway for treating cardiovascular diseases. Using a renal denervation technique, specialists have been able to lower blood pressure in patients with drug-resistant hypertension. And they aren’t stopping there. 

Boehringer Ingelheim has voluntarily discontinued treatment with dabigatran (Pradaxa) in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with artificial heart valves.

Are the federal government’s watchdogs deliberately going too far? And are the medical profession’s guide dogs inadvertently leading clinicians astray?

The Medicines Company and Bristol-Myers Squibb have signed a global license and two-year collaboration for Recothrom, a recombinant thrombin approved by the FDA for use as a topical hemostat to control non-arterial bleeding during surgical procedures.

The FDA is informing the public about results of a meta-analysis that compared patients who received the smoking cessation drug varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer) with patients who received a placebo. The meta-analysis found a higher occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular (CV) events (a combined outcome of CV-related death, nonfatal heart attack and nonfatal stroke) in patients using Chantix.