December 29, 2011 – With cardiologists facing an ever-changing healthcare regulatory environment and racing to achieve meaningful use, a recent Epocrates survey revealed cardiologists’ perspective about the latest practice and technology trends.

December 28, 2011 – Edwards Lifesciences announced two-year results of a pivotal clinical study of inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis treated with the Edwards Sapien transcatheter heart valve, which was approved in November by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These data from The PARTNER Trial (Cohort B) demonstrated a widening survival benefit for Sapien valve patients at two years, including significantly less time spent in the hospital.

December 28, 2011 – Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles is participating in the Levant 2 clinical trial to investigate a potential new treatment option for people with peripheral artery disease (PAD). The clinical trial will help doctors determine whether a drug-coated angioplasty balloon will be more successful in keeping narrowed arteries open for longer compared to treatment with a non-coated standard angioplasty balloon.

December 28, 2011 – Hansen Medical, a developer of robotic technology for accurate 3-D control of catheter movement, announced the world's first uses of the Magellan robotic system in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease (PVD). The clinical procedures were performed by Professor Nick Cheshire, M.D., and the medical team at St. Mary's Hospital, part of the Imperial College Healthcare in London, pioneers in the use of flexible robotics in vascular interventions.

December 27, 2011 — The January 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography (JASE) will feature a new resource for guidance on three-dimensional echocardiography (3-DE). The document, titled The EAE/ASE Recommendations for Image Acquisition and Display Using Three-Dimensional Echocardiography, provides a practical guide on how to acquire analyze and display the various cardiac structures using 3-DE.