The Watchman wait may be over. An analysis of long-term data found the Watchman left atrial appendage closure device to be superior to warfarin for primary efficacy and mortality.

Patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) were less likely to receive guideline recommended anticoagulation therapy compared with persistent AF patients. The analysis presented May 8 at the Heart Rhythm Society scientific sessions in Denver included registry data on more than 62,000 patients.

Anne M. Gillis, MD, president of the Heart Rhythm Society and a professor at the University of Calgary, will co-chair a joint session on clinical registries on May 9 at Heart Rhythm 2013 in Denver. In a Q&A with Cardiovascular Business, she discussed the evolution of joint sessions and other program details.

ASE members discuss recent changes to contrast enhanced stress echo.

Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) will offer new sessions as well as topics that were well received at previous meetings for its 2013 scientific sessions scheduled May 8-11 in Denver.

The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and GE Healthcare have teamed to provide a cardiovascular ultrasound training event for healthcare providers caring for underserved populations in rural northwest India.

Technological improvements in image acquisition and software processing in nuclear cardiology should allow physicians to shave patient imaging times dramatically or cut radiation doses fourfold, according to a new preferred practice statement from the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC).

Stenting stenosis in the internal pudendal artery as a treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED) appears to be safe and effective, but more needs to be understood about disease prevalence and pelvic vasculature, cardiologists say. More immediate is leveraging ED to reduce cardiovascular risk factors.