Cardiac Diagnostics

This channel includes news, videos, podcasts and other content on new technology innovations for cardiac diagnostic systems and techniques. This includes laboratory testing, blood tests including troponin testing, electrocardiogram (ECG) systems, point of care testing systems, genetic testing, cardiac patient monitoring devices including wearable sensors, and studies showing new ways to diagnose heart diseases.

Medicare, CMS, calls for cancelling or postponing all elective or non-essential medical procedures, test and surgeries due to COVID-19. #COVID19 #SARcov2 #coronavirus #cardiology

Feature | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Dave Fornell, Editor

CMS Calls For Postponing All Elective Cardiac Tests and Procedures to Aid COVID-19 Containment

March 20, 2020 — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced March 18, 2020, that all elective ...

March 20, 2020

Videos | Coronavirus (COVID-19)

VIDEO: Cancelling Non-essential Cardiac Procedures During the COVID-19 Outbreak

An interview with Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D., FSCAI, chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, executive director of ...

March 20, 2020

Medicare will pay for telehealth virtual doctor visits during the duration of the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.

News | Cardiovascular Business

CMS Expands Medicare Telehealth Benefits During COVID-19 Outbreak

March 17, 2020 — The Trump Administration today announced expanded Medicare telehealth coverage that will enable ...

March 17, 2020

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Several wearable, less-obtrusive ECG monitors fhave been cleared by the FDA for longer wear. This example is Cardiac Insight’s Cardea SOLO device.

Blog | ECG

BLOG: Moving Beyond Holter ECG: The Rise in Next Generation Technology

When the patients of Michael Boler, M.D. need cardiac monitoring, the Holter monitor is no longer his first choice. “The ...

August 24, 2022

Videos | Coronavirus (COVID-19)

VIDEO: What Cardiologists Need to Know about COVID-19

Interview with Thomas Maddox, M.D., MSc, FACC, the chairman of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Science and ...

March 17, 2020

Feature | ECG

A Double-Edged Sword: How Over-the-Counter ECG Devices are Impacting Cardiac Care

Apple created a stir when it announced in 2018 that its Apple Watch Series 4 was the first consumer health and fitness ...

March 11, 2020

ACC issues document outlining COVID-19 Implications For Patients With Underlying Cardiovascular Conditions. The COVID-19 mortality rate for patients cardiovascular disease is 10.5 percent based of data from Chinese hospitals since the outbreak. COVID-19 fatality rates for patients with comorbidities are higher than the average population, but cardiac patients had the highest death rate. #COVID19 #coronavirus #2019nCoV #SARS‐CoV‐2

Feature | Coronavirus (COVID-19)

ACC COVID-19 Clinical Guidance For the Cardiovascular Care Team

March 9, 2020 — The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is offering updates on the clinical impact of novel coronavirus ...

March 09, 2020

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Feature | ECG

Moving Beyond Holter ECG: The Rise in Next Generation Technology

When the patients of Michael Boler, M.D. need cardiac monitoring, the Holter monitor is no longer his first choice. “The newer ECG devices we have now are so much less cumbersome. It’s like wearing a Band-Aid versus carrying a bulky device,” said the Greenwood, Mississippi internist. “My patients prefer the more comfortable, wire-free form factor, and the quality is as good as, or better, than the Holter,” continued Boler. “Plus, my patient compliance has increased. With the Holter, the leads sometimes come off. The patient may think the device isn’t working, so they take it off and we have to restart the process.”

February 19, 2020

With the advent and optimization of nuclear scintigraphy protocols using bone-avid radiotracers, cardiac amyloidosis caused by transthyretin protein (ATTR) can now be diagnosed noninvasively without a costly tissue biopsy. The radiotracer 99mTc-pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) binds to deposited ATTR amyloid fibrils in the myocardium and can be visualized using planar and SPECT imaging. Amyloidosis Patient Registry #Amyloidosis

News | Cardiac Diagnostics

Amyloidosis Patient Registry Hits 300 Participants and Now Open to Entire Community

March 5, 2020 — More than 300 patients have joined the Amyloidosis Patient Registry and it is now available to the ...

March 05, 2020

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the FDA clearance of the Micra AV, the world’s smallest pacemaker with atrioventricular (AV) synchrony, topped the news analytics in February 2020 on DAIC magazine. COVID-19 virus image courtesy of CDC.

Feature | Dave Fornell, Editor

March 2, 2020 — Here is the list of the most popular content on the Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC) maga ...

March 02, 2020

An illustration of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) from the CDC. #coronavirus #COVID19 #COVID-2019 #2019nCoV

Feature | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Dave Fornell, Editor

CDC Hopes to Buy Time Before Likely Coronavirus Spread in U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is working to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus ...

February 25, 2020

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Most professional athletes participate in cardiovascular screening to identify often-asymptomatic heart disorders, but the debate continues on whether to mandate ECGs as part of pre-participation screening for student athletes. Photo courtesy of Play for Patrick.

Feature | Sudden Cardiac Arrest

As Interpretation Criteria Evolve, False Positive Athlete ECG Screening Rates Can Decrease

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading medical cause of death in young athletes and its impact is consistent worldwide. Most professional athletes in the United States are required to take part in comprehensive cardiovascular screening programs to identify often-asymptomatic congenital or inherited heart disorders, and other cardiac risk factors. There remains a debate however, whether to mandate ECGs as part of pre-participation screening programs for student athletes at the collegiate and high school levels or even at younger ages.

October 16, 2018

Tufts Medical Center created a heart failure team approach to care for its patients. The program includes an interventional heart failure fellowship program, where interventional cardiologists learn more advanced care, as show here with an ECMO procedure being performed in a cath lab at Tufts. The interventional cardiologists learn how to better care for heart failure patients and interface with surgeons, intensivists and others on the HF care team. The operator is Nevin Kapur. Photo by Dave Fornell.

Feature | Heart Failure | Dave Fornell, Editor

3 New Approaches to Reduce Heart Failure Readmissions

There is no, single magic bullet in heart failure (HF) to easily reduce readmission rates or easily reverse this complex ...

February 20, 2020

A 3-D rendering created from the chest CT scan of a 41-year-old coronavirus patient in China showing ground-glass opacities in several areas of the lungs from the coronavirus pneumonia. This was from one of the first medical imaging studies published on COVID-19 in the journal Radiology. #coronavirus #COVID2019 #COVID19 #2019nCoV #SARS‐CoV‐2

Feature | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Dave Fornell, Editor

The Cardiac Implications of Novel Coronavirus

(Article updated May 27, 2020)

February 20, 2020 — The American College of Cardiology (ACC) released a clinical ...

February 20, 2020

Feature | ECG

Moving Beyond Holter ECG: The Rise in Next Generation Technology

When the patients of Michael Boler, M.D. need cardiac monitoring, the Holter monitor is no longer his first choice. “The ...

February 19, 2020

Sponsored Content

Use of traditional Holter monitor leads can be an issue for patient compliance and comfort. The newer generation ambulatory cardiac monitors use an adhesive patch that sticks directly on the patient's chest and allows them to shower and go about daily activities without a belt mounted monitor or leads getting in the way. This is especially important for longer term monitoring of seven days or longer.

Feature | ECG

How Advances in Wearable Cardiac Monitors Improve the Patient and Clinician Experience

Advances in the technology of wearable cardiac monitors are improving both the experience of the patient and the ...

September 27, 2018

Here is an example of Fitbit data showing comparisons of data from Fitbit users by state. Residents in some states that take more steps in a day typically have lower incidences of diabetes, as showing in this population health big data heat map from consumer-grade wearable health tracking devices..

Feature | Population Health | Dave Fornell, Editor

Tracking Cardiovascular Health Population Trends Using Consumer Wearables

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights physical activity as one of four key behaviors people ...

February 14, 2020

The Abbott Tendyne transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) system, left, became the first TMVR device to gain commercial regulatory clearance in the world. It gains European CE mark in January. Another top story in January was the first use of the Robocath R-One robotic cath lab catheter guidance system in Germany. Watch a VIDEO of the system in use in one of those cases.

News | Dave Fornell, Editor

February 3, 2020 — Here is the list of the most popular content on the Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC) m ...

February 03, 2020

Easy access, anywhere to the ECG management system is helpful in patient care. This is the GE Muse system accessed at the patient bedside.

News | ECG Management Systems | Dave Fornell, Editor

Trends in ECG Management Systems

The movement from paper electrocardiogram (ECG) review to electronic ECG management systems in the past decade has ...

January 29, 2020