Patients with baseline stenosis or small surgical valves who undergo transcatheter aortic valve-in-valve implantation for failed bioprosthetic devices have lower survival rates than the overall patient population, according to a study published in the July 9 issue of JAMA.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a national determination coverage decision July 7 for permanent cardiac pacemakers that will require a modifier to receive Medicare reimbursement for procedures.

Limiting access to transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) therapy to inoperable patients suitable for only a transfemoral approach reduced the number of patients who received care, particularly women, in a study that evaluated the effect of the national coverage determination (NCD). 

In diabetic patients with heart failure (HF), sitagliptin use was found to have lower mortality rates but more subsequent HF hospitalizations than other therapies. Researchers noted there was no increased risk of all-cause hospitalizations, however.

Findings published July 5 in Lancet show low-dose heparin alone to be at least as effective and safe as bivalirudin alone when used in radial PCI in acute MI patients presenting with STEMI, if not more so.

In-hospital mortality for patients with atrial fibrillation who experienced intracranial bleeding was similar whether they were treated with dabigatran or warfarin in a study published online July 3 in Stroke. The findings may help physicians and patients who are choosing between the two types of anticoagulants.

Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stents were found to be as safe and effective after two years in small vessels and in patients with diabetes as those with larger diameters or patients without diabetes. In diabetic patients, outcomes were not significantly different between larger and smaller vessel diameters.

Thomas Wakefield, M.D., has been appointed a director of the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center, as James C. Stanley, M.D., resumes his role as professor of vascular surgery and associate chair of the U-M Department of Surgery.