Heart failure experts at the National Research Center for Cardiac Surgery in Astana, Kazakhstan, recently announced the first successful implantation of the FIVAD (Fully Implanted Ventricular Assist Device) into a human. An article about the implantation was also published in the Journal for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

The American College of Cardiology (ACC), along with nine other cardiology professional societies, recently published a new guidance document for appropriate use criteria (AUC) for multimodality imaging in the assessment of cardiac structure and function in nonvalvular heart disease. The guidance was published online Jan. 7 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

Omron Healthcare Inc. and physIQ Inc. announced a collaboration to integrate Omron’s HeartGuide wearable blood pressure monitoring device into the pinpointIQ platform to monitor at-risk patients in an outpatient setting. The strategic collaboration aims to generate actionable clinical information for at-risk patients in an outpatient environment by leveraging the complementary technologies of each company.

Stroke survivors have better quality of life three months after their stroke if the clot that caused the stroke was mechanically removed even hours beyond the ideal treatment window compared to those treated with drugs alone. This preliminary research will be presented, Feb. 6-8 in Honolulu at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2019.

In 2018, capital investment in companies developing artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled medical image analysis solutions was almost $580 million. This was more than double the investment into such companies in 2017, according to market research firm Signify Research.

Biosense Webster has enrolled and treated the first patient in its U.S. Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study evaluating the company’s QDot Micro radiofrequency (RF) ablation catheter in the treatment of symptomatic drug-refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). The first AF patient was treated at NYU Langone Health’s Heart Rhythm Center in New York City, one of up to 30 centers participating in the study that will enroll up to 185 patients throughout the U.S.