An interventional cardiologist at Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health has performed the state's first intravascular lithotripsy, a procedure in which a balloon is inserted into the artery and delivers sonic pressure waves to break off calcified plaque, which optimizes stent placement, the Duluth News Tribune reported April 10. 

New York City-based Mount Sinai has opened its first outpatient cardiology center in the city's Brooklyn borough, the health system announced April 6.

Roslyn, N.Y.-based St. Francis Hospital, part of Catholic Health, has named Ziad Ali, MD, director of its DeMatteis Cardiovascular Institute, according to an April 7 announcement shared with Becker's. 

A partnership between three health systems will soon bring Grand Rapids, Mich., its second open-heart surgery program, MiBIz reported April 6. 

Below are four cardiologists who recently joined new practices or stepped into new roles.

A story about clinicians at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based HonorHealth implanting a leadless pacemaker in the first U.S. patient was Becker's most-read cardiology story in March. 

PIH Health, a health system in Whittier, Calif., acquired Los Angeles Cardiology Associates.

Charles Hatcher, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon and former vice president of health affairs at Atlanta-based Emory University, died March 27 at Emory University Hospital. He was 90. 

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health signed a risk-based deal with Medtronic to improve outcomes for heart failure patients, the health system said March 31.

Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, started her one-year term as president of the American College of Cardiology April 1. 

Here are four partnerships and affiliations centered on cardiac and cardiovascular care announced recently.

The FDA approved the world's first nonsurgical heart valve device meant to treat patients with severe pulmonary valve regurgitation, which often is a result of congenital heart disease, the agency announced March 26. 

Dignity Health Chandler (Ariz.) Regional Medical Center recently opened a heart arrhythmia center to diagnose and treat patients with irregular heartbeats. 

Between 10 percent and 15 percent of women experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, including six that increase the risk of developing heart disease later in life, the American Heart Association said in a statement published March 29 in Circulation.

The National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation is hosting a medical device pitch competition with MedTech Innovator to address the lack of pediatric heart devices, the groups announced March 23. 

Stereotactic body radiation therapy was successfully used to treat a man with ventricular tachycardia, a heart rhythm disorder, for the first time in Florida by specialists at Baptist Health's Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute and Miami Cancer Institute, the health system announced March 24. 

Harrisonburg, Va.-based Sentara RMH Medical Center opened a heart failure clinic that provides care to recently discharged patients with cardiac issues, the hospital said March 24. 

The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association updated heart failure data standards and definitions in a March 23 report published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 

Clinicians at Scottsdale, Ariz.-based HonorHealth recently implanted a leadless pacemaker in the first U.S. patient as part of a new clinical trial with the HonorHealth Research Institute, the organization said March 22.

Abeel Mangi, MD, has been named chair of cardiac surgery for Baltimore-based MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute.