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.

Physicians at Washington, D.C.-based MedStar Washington Hospital Center have completed the 300th implant of the HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device, which treats patients with advanced heart failure, making it one of the first four LVAD programs nationwide to do so, MedStar said Nov. 30.

An artificial intelligence algorithm that can identify cardiac dysfunction from a single-lead EKG also can predict long-term survival for patients following cardiac surgery, a new study published Dec. 1 in Mayo Clinical Proceedings found. 

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

Fountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center announced Nov. 29 that its Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Program’s cardiac team recently performed its 100th TAVR procedure.

Camden, N.J.-based Virtua Health named Chun (Dan) Choi, MD, as vice president of clinical operations for cardiovascular services, according to a Nov. 29 press release.

University of Chicago Medicine physicians have completed 55 heart transplants in 2021, with two back-to-back procedures on Thanksgiving setting an Illinois state record for the year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Nov. 26. 

Recent cardiology studies have focused on the risk of transcatheter aortic valve replacement for chronic kidney patients, Cleveland-Clinic protocol for heart attacks and more. 

New Brunswick, N.J.-based Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is the first cardiovascular center of excellence in the state to use a drug-coated balloon angioplasty therapy for patients whose arteries have narrowed again following initial treatment, according to a Nov. 17 release.

An updated risk score from New York City-based Mount Sinai researchers can help predict possible contrast-associated acute kidney injury among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, according to a Nov. 15 press release.

Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System announced Nov. 18 the opening of a new aortic center.

Atlantic Health System’s Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center announced Nov. 16 the enrollment of the first patient into the Progress clinical trial, which may change the standard of care for aortic stenosis. 

Children’s Hospital of Richmond (Va.) at VCU and UVA Children’s in Charlottesville, Va., announced Nov. 17 a regional collaboration to ensure convenient access to pediatric heart surgery. 

Death from a heart attack or stroke may be the first cardiovascular disease event in some people who smoke cigarettes, a study published Nov. 17 in the Journal of the American Heart Association found. 

A Cleveland Clinic-developed protocol significantly improved the chances of in-hospital survival among patients who experience the most severe type of heart attack, regardless of socioeconomic factors, according to a Nov. 15 Cleveland Clinic press release. 

Eighty-six percent of patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart’s ability to pump blood is impeded by a thickened heart muscle, reported an improved overall quality of life after undergoing septal myectomy, a type of open-heart surgery, according to a Nov. 13 press release from Cleveland Clinic.

Chicago-based Loyola Medicine is the first in Illinois to use a new cardiac transport system to complete a heart transplant, the academic health system said Nov. 12.

Edgewood, Ky.-based St. Elizabeth Healthcare opened a 67,000-square-foot facility to provide advanced heart care Nov. 8.