St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced a new data analysis from the CHAMPION trial showing that heart failure (HF) patients with reduced ejection fraction on optimal doses of guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT) managed by pulmonary artery (PA) pressure monitoring with the CardioMEMS™ HF System had a 57 percent reduction in mortality and a 43 percent reduction in HF hospitalizations compared with patients on GDMT managed by the standard of care (SOC). These data show a strong improvement for patients managed by optimal GDMT and the CardioMEMS HF System in both mortality and hospitalizations over currently defined best practices.

The recipient of a total artificial heart implanted in August is home and “living a completely normal life now,” according to the French surgeon who invented the device. The patient exercises by “pedaling like crazy” on a stationary bike.

Patients awaiting heart transplants can continue on ventricular assist devices for longer periods now, thanks to smaller profile devices with improved functionality, the Boston Globe reports.

Researchers testing Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Inc. experimental HNO prodrugs presented data demonstrating that HNO improves cardiac function in animal models of diastolic heart failure, and separately that an orally administered HNO prodrug produces the same attractive hemodynamic improvements previously demonstrated with intravenous infusion.

The American Heart Association awarded its 2014 Population Research Prize to Vasan R. Ramachandran, M.D., of Boston University School of Medicine, “for brilliantly seizing upon opportunities to translate cutting-edge bench science into an epidemiological context, thereby making fundamental contributions to identifying systemic markers for cardiovascular risk, both here and in developing countries.”

Dr. Ankur Kalra, MD, the chief cardiovascular fellow at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, will present today at the Tenth Annual Cardiovascular Young Investigators' Forum behind held in Chicago, Illinois on November 6-9, 2014. Dr. Kalra's presentation, titled "Doppler Tissue Imaging Predicts Progressive Heart Failure Prognosis in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy," is the product of a study conducted using the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation's extensive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) database, which was compiled in large part by MHIF Research Cardiologist Dr. Barry Maron.

Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) is the first medical center in Southern California, post-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, to implant a new wireless device for heart failure patients. The device is designed to reduce readmissions to the hospital and empower patients to be involved in their own health information.

Today, St. Vincent Heart Center officials announced that the faith-based hospital is the second in the nation to implant the new investigational “heart pump.” Dr. Christopher Salerno, cardiothoracic surgeon at St. Vincent Heart Center implanted the new Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS) called the HeartMate III on a 19-year-old patient.