Can treating depression in patients with heart failure help them live longer? That's one of the questions that University of Pittsburgh researchers hope to answer with a new five-year, $7.3 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Christiana Care Health System is one of a handful of institutions in the region to participate in ABSORB III, the first clinical trial in the United States of an absorbable vascular scaffold for patients with coronary artery disease.

The New York Times reports that nitroglycerine, the go-to drug in emergency rooms when physicians suspect an MI, may face intermittent shortages, according to its sole supplier.

The FDA approved three St. Jude Medical pacemaker devices, including its quadripolar cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your rrr, rrr, rrr-rivaroxaban? NASCAR, the auto racing aficionado organization, announced that Janssen Pharmaceuticals has become its official cardiovascular partner.

The use of a leadless, self-contained pacemaker was found to be safe and effective in a group of patients with an indication for single-chamber pacing who participated in a clinical trial. The study results were published online March 24 in Circulation.

Citing two cases involving recalled leads in implantable cardiac devices as examples, two California researchers called for more postmarketing surveillance, publicly available data registries and better labeling to help physicians assess devices’ risks and benefits.

Patients with extensive middle-cerebral-artery stroke may benefit somewhat from hemicraniectomy, based on research published March 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found the procedure improved survival, but left many patients with considerable disability.