CHICAGO—Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is poised to move in a new direction—down, according to presenters at the Transcatheter Valve Therapies conference in Chicago.

After one and four years, older patients with heart failure were more likely to be alive if they received cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D) compared with a group who received only an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), according to a registry analysis.

Patients with acute coronary syndrome who received ezetimibe in addition to statin therapy had improvements in cardiovascular outcomes and a lowering of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, according to a double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

A meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials found lowering blood pressure in patients with early ischemic stroke did not affect the risk of death or dependency. There was also no difference in the risks of recurrent vascular events, recurrent stroke and serious adverse events.

Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized for heart failure were less likely to be readmitted within 30 days if they were referred to hospice care, according to an analysis of data from Alabama hospitals. Within six months of hospital discharge, most of the patients who had died were not referred to receive hospice care. 

 

Eleven hospitals in New Jersey that do not offer cardiac surgeries onsite are seeking to perform elective angioplasties on an elective basis. The state currently allows 18 hospitals to perform the procedures.

Nearly one-third of patients who were hospitalized with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction died during a follow-up period of 49.5 months, according to a randomized study.

An analysis of more than 25 years of data at the Cleveland Clinic found that surgical procedures were more successful than “watchful waiting” for patients with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation.