Conferences

By modifying the appropriate use criteria (AUC) for transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) and educating physicians on which tests should be performed in an inpatient versus outpatient setting, researchers at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut reduced their inpatient echo order volume by 11.1 percent and boosted the efficiency of their department.

A simple educational initiative designed to show cardiac surgeons how often they used blood transfusions—and how much they cost—helped one heart center significantly cut its rate of blood utilization and save a projected $500,000 each year.

Home-based telerehabilitation is just as effective as traditional rehab for restoring arm function in stroke survivors, according to late-breaking science presented at this year’s American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Honolulu.

Hospitals participating in the second phase of a quality improvement program through the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association reduced their median door-to-needle times for acute ischemic stroke patients from 66 minutes to 51 minutes. And the program is now setting its goals even higher. 

A study of Native Americans who experienced ischemic stroke showed they carried a high burden of risk factors, nearly all of which grew in prevalence from 2000 to 2016.

Cancer patients who experienced tachycardia within one year of being diagnosed carried higher mortality rates up to a decade later—even after adjusting for clinical characteristics and medication use—according to research presented Jan. 25 at the Advancing the Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient conference.

A French health tech company debuted its Chronolife vest—a cotton- and lycra-based wearable aimed at preventing medical emergencies in patients with chronic or congestive heart failure (CHF)—at CES 2019 in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, CNET reported.

Is Interactive Virtual Reality Poised to Deliver a ‘Eureka Moment’ for Cardiology?

A study presented Dec. 6 at the EuroEcho-Imaging 2018 conference in Milan adds to the debate over the "obesity paradox," finding that acute heart failure patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 23 or higher had better survival over nearly three years of follow-up than those with a BMI below that threshold.

Violence, an ever-growing presence in our global communities, isn’t just a social issue, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago Nov. 12. It’s a public health one, too, and it can have serious consequences for our heart health.

Results of the CIRT trial presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions dimmed hopes that low-dose methotrexate can reduce cardiovascular events but furthered researchers’ understanding of which inflammation-targeting therapies might succeed in that regard.

Under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint for global well-being penned in 2015, officials aim to end all preventable deaths in newborns and children under 5 by 2030. And to Jackie Boucher, MS, BS, president of Children’s HealthLink in Minneapolis, that means better understanding congenital heart disease (CHD).