In a new health policy statement, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) identifies how to best support healthcare advances in three arenas — digital health, big data and precision health.

Competitive male triathletes face a higher risk of a potentially harmful heart condition called myocardial fibrosis, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), Nov. 26-Dec. 1 in Chicago. The increased risk, which was not evident in female triathletes, was directly associated with the athletes’ amount of exercise.

Corindus Vascular Robotics Inc. announced that it is working with Mayo Clinic in a preclinical study about use of telestenting. Telestenting, a remote robotic treatment for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), may enable physicians to conduct procedures from virtually any location, opening opportunities for more patients globally to receive the benefits of this lifesaving procedure. The global shortage of PCI-capable operators is significant and continues to be a growing problem.

Guerbet announced that it has entered into an agreement under which it will acquire Israeli company Accurate Medical Therapeutics , which specializes in the development of microcatheters used in interventional radiology.

January 8, 2018 — Canon Inc. and Canon Medical Systems Corp. announced the official corporate name change of Canon Group ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a Class I recall of Sterilmed’s Agilis Steerable Introducer Sheath’s hemostatic valve that prevents blood from flowing back through the valve, warning that it may fail due to an improper seal of the sheath hub. The agency said improper seals can allow blood to leak through the hub, cause the cap to fall off during the procedure, or can create a difference in pressure that allows air into the circulatory system (air embolism). The FDA warned the use of affected products may cause serious health consequences for patients, including death.

Chagas disease (ChD), an infectious parasitic disease transmitted primarily by triatomine insects, has become a significant public health problem in recent decades. While many ChD patients suffer only minor symptoms, 20-30 percent develop chronic heart disease (ChHD); the variety of possible abnormalities caused by ChHD requires understanding of how different imaging modalities can assist in diagnosis and treatment decisions. A new document, Recommendations for Multimodality Cardiac Imaging in Patients with Chagas Disease: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography in Collaboration With the InterAmerican Association of Echocardiography (ECOSIAC) and the Cardiovascular Imaging Department of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (DIC-SBC), aims to provide the first comprehensive guidance for how best to use the multiple cardiac diagnostic tools to assess and monitor the growing number of patients with these Chagas-induced heart problems.