Six firsts in the cardiology field Becker's has covered since March 21: 

Morton Mower, MD, a pioneering cardiologist who was the co-inventor of the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator, died of cancer at 89 on April 25, The Baltimore Sun reported April 30. 

Boone, N.C.-based Appalachian Regional Healthcare System plans to open a heart and vascular clinic May 3 at Ashe Memorial Hospital in Jefferson, N.C. 

Interventional cardiologists and a cardiothoracic surgeon at Louisville, Ky.-based Norton Heart and Vascular Institute performed the region’s first successful transcatheter replacement of a native mitral valve, the center said in an April 26 email to Becker's. 

Between 2017 and 2021, 602 heart transplants were performed at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai's Smidt Heart Institute, more adult heart transplants than at any other U.S. program, according to the center's annual report released last week.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., launched an interventional cardiology program and opened a catheterization lab April 25. 

Daily use of low-dose aspirin is no longer recommended for the prevention of heart attacks in adults 60 and older, according to an independent panel of U.S. experts in primary care and prevention.

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

Here are three recent moves from the American College of Cardiology Becker's has reported on since March 16: 

The American Heart Association and The Joint Commission will begin offering a Comprehensive Heart Attack Center certification program July 1. 

Four hospitals and health systems that have opened new heart clinics or launched new programs since March 23: 

Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health has opened a heart disease clinic for pregnant and postpartum women. 

A patient who received a double heart valve replacement at the University of Alabama in Birmingham on Oct. 2, 1990, was recently named the Guinness World Record holder for the longest survivor of the procedure.

Here are four recent cardiology guidance updates Becker's has reported on since Feb. 23: 

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia launched the CHOP Cardiovascular Institute to further research into pediatric cardiovascular diseases.

People with elevated risks for heart attack or stroke are nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized and require intensive care unit admission if they contract COVID-19, new research from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases suggests.

Here are five cardiologists who have recently stepped into new roles: 

Anekwe Onwuanyi, MD, has been elected the 19th president of the Association of Black Cardiologists. 

Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health System launched an outpatient pediatric cardiology practice across eight locations in Virginia and Maryland, it said last week. 

Around 1 in 4 adults have a commonly missed liver condition that increases the risk of heart disease, the American Heart Association said April 14.