While blood pressure drugs have been successful at pushing patient’s systolic blood pressure down to 120—the recognized benchmark for a healthy blood pressure—they have also dropped diastolic blood pressure to potentially dangerous levels.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved the left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion registry on Aug. 17 to assess patients undergoing percutaneous and epicardial based LAA occlusion procedures to reduce the risk of stroke.

The FDA approved a bolus vial form of tirofiban hydrochloride (Aggrastat) on Sept. 1.

Advanced imaging technologies and techniques were used this summer to successfully separate two conjoined twin girls.

Patients who had acute major bleeding associated with factor Xa inhibitors experienced a significant reversal of anti-factor Xa activity when they received an andexanet bolus and infusion, according to a multicenter, open-label trial.

Googling symptoms to make a diagnosis is not medical best practice. But now, thanks to a collaborative effort between the American College of Cardiology and the world’s most popular search engine, Google searches for heart conditions will produce important questions patients should ask their doctors based on ACC clinical guidelines.

As heart disease remains a pressing issue for many patients, identifying ways to avoid heart failure are at the forefront of physicians’ efforts.

To help low-income people quit smoking cigarettes, Washington University in St. Louis is gearing up to launch a study that will work to identify methods that can address the problem.