Cardiologists are routinely subjected to a range of ethical considerations, with the COVID-19 pandemic spurring a number of new questions, according to Medscape's 2020 Cardiology Ethics Report published Jan. 29. 

Researchers from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and AliveCor, a cardiology-focused medical device company, developed an artificial intelligence-powered EKG device to identify patients at risk of sudden cardiac death, according to a Feb. 1 news release.

Matt Wolff, MD, a cardiologist at Madison, Wis.-based UW Health, received a joint heart-kidney transplant last October, becoming one of only five patients to undergo the procedure at the health system last year, reports the Wisconsin State Journal. 

A list of cardiologists who recently joined new practices was Becker's most-read cardiology story in January.

Four major heart organizations issued a joint statement Jan. 28 urging the medical community to advocate for air pollution mitigation, citing the association between increased heart disease risk and air pollution.

Two pediatric cardiologists will co-lead the nation's first long-term clinical trial for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a rare inflammatory condition potentially linked to COVID-19, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.

Heart disease is still the leading cause of death worldwide, with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic likely to extend that ranking for years to come, according to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics — 2021 Update published Jan. 27. 

An array of magnets in Apple's newest iPhone model may interfere with the function of heart implants like defibrillators and pacemakers, the Miami Herald reports. 

Physicians should consider the mental health of patients with or at risk of heart disease, according to a scientific statement published in the American Heart Association's Circulation journal Jan. 25. 

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville are evaluating the use of a valve pressure relief device meant to alleviate the severe shortness of breath associated with congestive heart failure as part of a clinical trial, The Daily Progress reports. 

Surgeons at Murrieta, Calif.-based Loma Linda University Medical Center have performed their 200th transcatheter aortic valve replacement, according to a Jan. 21 news release. 

Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Jan. 3 performed its first heart transplant using an emerging method, donation after cardiac death, which allows surgeons to revive a donor heart after it has stopped beating, local news radio station KFAB reports. 

Surgeons at NYU Langone Health have performed a successful heart-lung transplant on a woman with end-stage cardiac and pulmonary disease using an emerging transplant technique called donation after circulatory death, according to a Jan. 21 case study from the New York City-based health system. 

Women are more likely than men to suffer sudden death from cardiac arrest during nighttime hours, according to a study published in Heart Rhythm Jan. 19. 

People with abdominal aortic calcification have a two- to four-times higher risk of a future cardiovascular event, according to a study published Jan. 13 in Journal of the American Heart Association. The condition, a build-up of calcium in the abdominal aorta, a major artery, is often detected through medical imaging modalities such as X-rays, highlighting an opportunity for early intervention. 

Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health will offer free virtual heart and vascular seminars once a week in February in recognition of American Heart Month, reports MassLive.

The American Heart Association and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine have created a national registry of college athletes who have had COVID-19 to help cardiologists better assess how the disease affects athletes' hearts.

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

Nashville-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center performed 148 heart transplants in 2020, the most of any transplant center in the world, according to a Jan. 12 news release. 

Thomas Costantino, MD, director of cardiology at Staten Island (N.Y.) University Hospital's campuses in Ocean Breeze and Prince's Bay, died Dec. 20 at age 80 after a long illness, reports the Staten Island Advance.