Black Medicare beneficiaries with implanted cardiac devices (ICDs) face a lower risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) than their white counterparts, despite a higher overall burden of vascular risk factors and a greater risk of stroke, researchers reported Feb. 11 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Paclitaxel-coated devices were found safe for the treatment of femoropopliteal artery revascularization in a JAMA Cardiology study published Feb. 12—the latest installment in a continuing debate over whether drug-coated stents and balloons raise long-term mortality risk in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Heart failure (HF)—both symptomatic and asymptomatic—is associated with an up to 10 percent increased risk of 90-day postoperative mortality in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery, according to a study published Feb. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A study of health outcomes among more than 1 million men who enlisted in the Swedish Armed Forces decades ago has thrown into sharp relief the connection between poor health habits in adolescence and chronic disabilities later on in life.

A 73-year-old Florida man posing as a fake doctor was arrested after he diagnosed an undercover cop with diabetes and high cholesterol and offered to “cure” the man with a $2,000 autologous blood transfusion, the Miami Herald reported Feb. 13.

P2Y12 inhibitor initiation with clopidogrel using a loading dose (LD) is no more effective in reducing ischemic events or adverse outcomes in transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients than initiating the therapy without a loading dose, according to research published in the American Journal of Cardiology Feb. 10.

Home-based telerehabilitation is just as effective as traditional rehab for restoring arm function in stroke survivors, according to late-breaking science presented at this year’s American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Honolulu.

Placing homemade shields under the angiographic table during percutaneous coronary procedures cut operators’ exposure to radiation at the pelvic level by a median of 72 percent, according to a single-center study in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.