Mechanical engineering students at Rice University in Houston developed the PediPower, a shoe-mounted generator that converts motion into energy as a power source for cardiac devices. Their initial goal was to make a generator that provided a reliable and constant source of power. The next step is to make PediPower smaller and lighter. Houston-based Cameron, which is collaborating with the Texas Heart Institute to design pumps for an artificial heart, approached the students with the project.  

Is evidence in the eye of the beholder? Robust data go a long way toward removing ambiguity but several recent reports show interpretive gray zones still exist, posing challenges for physicians and hospitals.

Stephen Page, PhD, a licensed physical therapist, is leading a research project that uses smart phone technologies to track movement in stroke patients to determine their progress with rehabilitation. The approach relies on accelerometers, sensors in smart phones, video games and even air bags that detect motion. Page is an associate professor at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.

Data showing improved quality results for cardiac cath labs that apply for accreditation through the Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE) were presented during the SCAI Scientific Sessions in Orlando, FL, May 8-10, 2013.

Hospital staff potentially are exposed to radiation from patients who undergo myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). In a letter published online May 15 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the authors estimated occupational radiation exposure with MPI and offered ways to reduce it.

Marketing intelligence firms that serve pharmaceutical companies apply sophisticated networking and data analytics to inform their clients about the prescribing habits of physicians as well as patient behavior. “Doctors tend not to be aware of the depths to which they are being analyzed and studied by people trying to sell them drugs and other medical products,” Jerry Avorn, MD, chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a New York Times article.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) recently responded to the Obama Administration's FY 2014 proposed budget recommendation to eliminate the in-office ancillary services exception (IOASE) to the "Stark” law.

The American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Spring issue of Cardiology magazine takes a look at how South Carolina Heart Center, a medium-sized practice based in Columbia, is using the PINNACLE Registry, part of the ACC’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR®), in everyday practice.