Keeping patients with atrial fibrillation on rather than off warfarin therapy during radiofrequency catheter ablation reduced the risk of periprocedural stroke in a randomized trial. The results were published online April 17 in Circulation.

Congestive heart failure topped the list for 30-day readmissions of Medicare beneficiaries in 2011 and ranked among the top 10 high-volume conditions for two other payer categories in an analysis released in April.

The FDA approved the latest generation of Boston Scientific’s implantable cardiac devices.

Joseph F. Sabik, III, MD, chairman of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, offers tips to reduce the chance of developing a surgical site infection from a cardiac operation in a video on the clinic’s HealthHub site.

University of Arizona neuroscientist Nicholas Strausfeld, PhD, and a team of researchers unearthed a fossil in China with the earliest known cardiovascular system. The fossil is of Fuxianhuia protensa and it dates back to the Cambrian Period, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

A federal court called for a preliminary injunction limiting the sale of the CoreValve device in the U.S. but granted a reprieve before the injunction is scheduled to go into effect.

Celladon Corporation, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapies for patients with heart failure and other diseases characterized by SERCA enzyme deficiencies, today announced that its lead product candidate, MYDICAR, has been granted breakthrough therapy designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for reducing hospitalizations for heart failure in NYHA class III or IV chronic heart failure patients who are NAb negative.

GE Healthcare today announced results from a new study, which showed that patients receiving Visipaque(tm) (iodixanol) 320mg I/ml reported less discomfort, characterized by heat or cold sensation or pain upon injection, than patients receiving Isovue(r) (iopamidol) 370 mg I/ml during peripheral arteriography. As with other iodinated contrast agents, Visipaque is often associated with sensations of discomfort, warmth or pain. The data were presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session and Expo.