The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has released a new report offering a comprehensive review of currently available evidence on two new interventions as potential advances in the care of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. The report is titled CardioMEMS HF System (St. Jude Medical) and Sacubitril/Valsartan (Entresto, Novartis) for Management of Congestive Heart Failure: Effectiveness, Value, and Value-Based Price Benchmarks.

A novel radiopharmaceutical probe developed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has the potential of providing physicians with information that could save the lives of patients with ischemic stroke or pulmonary embolism. Both conditions are caused when important blood vessels are blocked by a clot that has traveled from another part of the body. In a report that will appear in the October issue of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology and has been published online, the MGH team describes using this new probe to conduct full-body scans in an animal model. Preliminary results also were reported earlier this year at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Michigan hospitals participating in the American College of Cardiology’s “See You in 7” program demonstrated important reductions in 30-day readmission rates for Medicare heart failure patients compared to non-participating hospitals.

The Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute (TCAI) at St. David's Medical Center recently became the first facility in the United States to use the EpiAccess system to access the pericardial cavity of the heart during an epicardial ablation.