White women—but not black women—between the ages of 65 and 74 carried a lower risk of stroke than their male counterparts in a U.S. study, suggesting gender-specific protections against stroke vanish earlier among blacks.

Low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy—a treatment used to relieve genital and urinary discomfort in women during menopause—isn’t associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer, researchers reported in Menopause Dec. 17.

Patients who receive heart surgery experience minimal changes to their memory up to two years after their operations compared to those who undergo less-invasive cardiac catheterization, according to a new study, offering reassurance that postoperative cognitive decline may be temporary in many cases.

An analysis of more than 3.5 million percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients found the procedure was initially popular with an older demographic starting in 1998, but after 2006 the overall number of PCIs in those aged 70 and up started to decline.

Several professional societies collaborated to release appropriate use criteria for peripheral artery intervention (PAI), a field the authors acknowledged still has an emerging evidence base that is likely to change these recommendations in the future.

The calcium-channel blocker nicardipine can effectively reverse coronary slow flow (CSF)—“an under-recognized cause of chest pain”—according to the authors of a study published online Dec. 15 in the Journal of Invasive Cardiology.

The FDA has granted premarket approval to Cardiva Medical’s vascular closure system for use during electrophysiology procedures such as cardiac ablation and left atrial appendage closure, the company announced Dec. 18.

Two trials designed to test the use of drug-eluting devices in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) were halted soon after a meta-analysis linked paclitaxel-coated balloons and stents to a significantly increased risk of death beyond one year post-implantation.