Abbott has announced late-breaking data from the Amulet LAA Occluder IDE trial, a multicentre, head-to-head study comparing the company’s Amplatzer Amulet left atrial appendage (LAA) occluder with the Watchman (Boston Scientific) device to treat patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) at an increased risk of stroke.

Work stress, sleep disorders, and fatigue—which are regarded as non-traditional risk factors for heart attack and stroke—are rising more steeply among women than men, according to a new study presented at the 7th European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC 2021; 1–3 September, virtual).

Adding systematic fractional flow reserve (FFR) assessment to coronary angiography does not reduce costs or improve quality of life in patients undergoing diagnosis for chest pain, nor does it reduce major adverse cardiac events or revascularisation rates. That is the finding of late-breaking research presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s 2021 congress (ESC 2021, 27–30 August, virtual).

Edoxaban is noninferior to warfarin and its analogues for adverse clinical events in patients with atrial fibrillation after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), new research has found.

From a cost-effectiveness standpoint, primary stenting of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) for the treatment of intermittent claudication can, in many countries, be used as an adjunct to exercise training advice. This is the main conclusion of Henrik Djerf (Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden) and colleagues, reporting two-year results of a randomised, multicentre trial online in the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (EJVES).

The largest analysis of its kind to look at the impact of COVID-19 on adult cardiac surgery volume, trends and outcomes in the USA has found that during the first surge of the pandemic in early 2020 cardiac volume suffered dramatically, with a concurrent increase in observed-to-expected 30-day mortality.

Edwards Lifesciences has announced that it has received regulatory approval from Health Canada for both the Konect Resilia aortic valved conduit and the Mitris Resilia mitral valve. Both feature the company’s novel Resilia tissue platform with anti-calcification properties currently used on the Inspiris Resilia aortic valve.

CathWorks has announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has approved the application to provide reimbursement for the CathWorks FFRangio system, making it more broadly available for coronary artery disease decision-making in Japan.

CathWorks has announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has approved the application to provide reimbursement for the CathWorks FFRangio system, making it more broadly available for coronary artery disease decision-making in Japan.

An analysis of the rates rehospitalisation and mortality in heart failure patients with secondary severe mitral regurgitation from the COAPT trial has found that transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr) with MitraClip (Abbott) reduced the total number of hospitalisations, including fatal rehospitalisation events.

Two-year results from the PINNACLE FLX clinical trial assessing the safety and efficacy of the next-generation Watchman FLX (Boston Scientific) left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) device for patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) have shown that patients implanted with the device recorded a low rate of ischaemic stroke out to 24 months.

Writing in an article published online in the Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS), John F Charitable, Neal Cayne (both NYU Langone Health, New York, USA), and colleagues conclude that translumbar embolisation is a safe and effective treatment option for type II endoleak with aneurysm growth following endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).