Aurora-based Children's Hospital Colorado recently became the first pediatric hospital in the world to use a 3D intracardiac echocardiography catheter in the treatment of congenital heart disease. 

Jersey City Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, expanded its cardiovascular program by introducing a computed tomography artificial intelligence to evaluate the presence of coronary artery disease.

Heart centers across the nation continue to reach milestones with a variety of procedures. 

Four hospitals and health systems have recently opened cardiac catheterization labs and other specialty heart centers. 

Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network's Cardiovascular Institute opened a new cardiac catheterization laboratory, TribLive reported Dec. 15.

Dallas-based Medical City Heart Hospital recently performed the first heart transplant using a new technique known as donation after cardiac death, or DCD, in Texas, the hospital said Dec. 15. 

The former chief of cardiovascular surgery at Doylestown (Pa.) Hospital has launched a GoFundMe campaign in an effort to raise enough money to sue the hospital over his firing, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The American Heart Association has invested $10 million in grants to fund studies that evaluate COVID-19's long-term effects on heart and brain health. 

The Piedmont Heart Institute, part of Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare, hired nine cardiovascular specialists this year, the health system said Dec. 13. 

A round-up of the nation's best hospitals for heart care was Becker's most-read cardiology story in 2021. 

Surgeons at California-based Stanford Children's Health recently performed the organization's 500th pediatric heart transplant.

Gender, race and ethnicity should not be factors for cardiologists deciding whether invasive heart procedures should be performed on patients, according to a new guideline issued Dec. 9  from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. 

Austin, Texas-based St. David’s Medical Center physicians were among the first in the U.S. to implant the Barostim System, a new neurostimulator technology used to help treat advanced heart failure, the hospital said Dec. 9.

Since the start of 2021, hospitals and health systems across the U.S. have performed many novel cardiology procedures.

Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Berks County, Pa., announced a new electrophysiology laboratory opened Dec. 7 to treat patients with cardiac rhythm disturbances. 

The American College of Cardiology named Ami Bhatt, MD, as chief innovation officer, the organization said Dec. 7. 

Cases of post-COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis, swelling of the heart muscle, in people under 21 are rare and usually mild, a study published Dec. 6 in Circulation confirmed. 

Significant increases in blood pressure readings were observed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in both men and women across the U.S., a study published Dec. 6 in Circulation found. 

Cleveland Clinic doctors were the first in the world to successfully implant leadless pacemaker defibrillator systems in two patients as part of a global clinical trial sponsored by Boston Scientific, according to a Dec. 2 news release.

News linking the optimal bedtime to lower heart disease risk was Becker's most-read cardiology story in November.