Nationwide data show that although only about 12 percent of X-ray exams are for interventional cardiology or electrophysiology (EP) procedures, nearly 50 percent of a patient’s lifetime radiation exposure comes from the cardiovascular labs. In an effort to reduce this level of patient radiation exposure, Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Institute, part of Scripps Memorial Hospital and Scripps Green Hospital, evaluated Biosense Webster’s CartoUnivu module for the Carto 3 System (Figure 1) before it was made commercially available earlier this year. They looked for its potential benefits in reducing radiation exposure to patients and clinical staff.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is feasible in patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BV), according to research presented at European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2013 by Dr. Timm Bauer from Germany. The findings open up a new treatment possibility in patients with BV, which has been considered a contraindication for TAVI.

Researchers announced this week that an attempt to expand cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) to include more patients with heart failure has failed and an international clinical trial ended early to prevent potential harm to patients.

September 3, 2013 — St. Jude Medical Inc. announced the CE mark approval of its next-generation EnligHTN renal denervation system for treating patients with drug-resistant, uncontrolled hypertension. The EnligHTN system was display during the 2013 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting Aug. 31 to Sept. 3.