Chronic exposure to secondhand smoke in common settings like cars, homes and casinos may increase a person’s susceptibility to cardiac alternans, a precursor to ventricular arrhythmias, according to an animal study published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

With use of cardiac implantable electronic devices on the rise, experts stress device selection, prophylactic antibiotics, pre-procedural protocols and post-implementation vigilance.

Compared to drug therapy alone, catheter ablation nearly halved the risk of death and improved a range of clinical outcomes for patients with both heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AFib) in a meta-analysis.

About 1 in 6 patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AFib) who are considered at low risk of stroke advance to a higher risk category within one year, according to a registry study published in the Jan. 1 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

The FDA has granted premarket approval to Cardiva Medical’s vascular closure system for use during electrophysiology procedures such as cardiac ablation and left atrial appendage closure, the company announced Dec. 18.

U.K.-based startup Cambridge Heartware has announced the launch of its company and its first product, a wearable heart monitor powered by artificial intelligence, in early 2019.

A trial designed to test the effectiveness of additional antibiotic prophylaxis before and after cardiac electronic device implantation found that such an approach did not significantly lower the rate of subsequent infections, although there was a trend in that direction.

It takes emergency medical services (EMS) almost four minutes longer to transport cardiac arrest patients from poor neighborhoods to the hospital versus those from high-income neighborhoods, according to a study of 2014 United States EMS data published in JAMA Network Open.