The American Heart Association today awarded its Clinical Research Prize for 2013 to Thomas Brott, M.D., “for his leadership of significant and innovative clinical research validating new procedures that have enhanced care of patients suffering stroke and helped to minimize or overcome its damaging effects.”

The American Heart Association today awarded its Basic Research Prize for 2013 to pediatric cardiologist and researcher Jeffrey A. Towbin, M.D., of Cincinnati, for “highly significant additions to our basic knowledge of cardiovascular disease in children.”

New guidelines for managing patients’ cholesterol won’t greatly affect the statin industry, the New York Times reported, but they could put a damper on new classes of drugs under development such as PCSK9 inhibitors.

Cor Cardiovascular Specialists, Inc., Arrhythmia Specialists, Inc., and Walter Savage, M.D., announced today that they will join John Muir Health’s medical foundation. They become the first cardiology groups and cardiologists to join the foundation. John Muir Health's Physician Network currently provides services to patients through more than 900 independent and foundation-based physicians.

The use of Apica's innovative transapical access technology was successfully demonstrated for the first time at the 27th European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) congress in Vienna. EACTS is one of the largest cardiac congress in the world, with around 6,500 participants.

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT) today announced FDA approval of its Lead Integrity Alert (LIA) software for use with non-Medtronic leads. Proprietary and exclusive software that resides in Medtronic defibrillators, LIA is now approved to report performance issues on Durata® and Riata® defibrillator leads (St. Jude Medical) and Endotak® (Boston Scientific) defibrillator leads when connected to a Medtronic device.

Veniti(TM), Inc. (Veniti), has received approval to CE Mark the Veniti Vici(TM) Venous Stent, specifically designed for the treatment of venous obstruction. In addition, the company received CE Mark approval for their varicose vein ablation product, the Veniti Veni(TM) RF Plus Ablation System. The CE Marks allow Veniti to sell products within the European Union.

George J. Magovern, MD, a pioneering cardiac surgeon who co-developed the sutureless Magovern-Cromie Heart Valve, died Nov. 4 at the age of 89. His obituary was published on Pittsburgh’s post-gazette.com website.