Heart Rhythm

Hearts should have normal rhythm to their beats, but when these beats are out of synch, it causes inefficient pumping of blood. Irregular heart arrhythmias occur when the electrical signals that coordinate the heart's beats do not work properly. This can cause beats that are too fast (tachycardia), or too slow (bradycardia). Tachycardias include atrial fibrillation (AFib), supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, and ventricular tachycardia (VT). Bradycardias include sick sinus syndrome and conduction block. Electrophysiology arrhythmia treatments include medications, life style changes, and the EP lab interventions of catheter ablation, and implantable pacemakers or defibrillators.

History made: Young child treated with new heart device for very first time
A care team in Illinois has performed the first heart procedure of its kind on a two-year-old patient diagnosed with Brugada syndrome.
ACC offers practical approaches for arrhythmia monitoring after stroke
The American College of Cardiology published an expert consensus on practical approaches for arrhythmia monitoring after stroke to improve post-stroke care by identifying and managing atrial fibrillation.
FDA announces recall of cryoablation catheters after multiple injuries, including 4 deaths
Boston Scientific is recalling the catheters associated with its POLARx Cryoablation System due to a heightened risk of esophageal injury. The FDA has ruled that this a Class I recall.
Cardiologists perform world’s first leadless LBBAP procedures with Abbott pacemaker
The first-in-human procedures were performed in Prague with the investigational Aveir CSP leadless pacemaker system.
President of medical device company resigns over conduct allegations after 7 months in role
Joseph C. Wright, a longtime Merit Medical employee, resigned after unspecified allegations regarding his conduct were brought to light. He was named the company's new president back in May.

Transporting cardiac arrest patients to the hospital too early could be a fatal mistake

Survival to hospital discharge and favorable neurological outcomes suffer in instances of intra-arrest patient transport.

September 16, 2020

Fitbit gains FDA clearance, CE mark approval for AFib detection app

The app boasts a sensitivity of 98.7% and specificity of 100%.

September 14, 2020

New-look catheter system shows potential to boost cardiac care

The new balloon catheter system provides real-time feedback during minimally invasive surgeries and ablations.

September 8, 2020

Why early rhythm control therapy is so important for atrial fibrillation patients

The research team's findings were presented at ESC Congress 2020 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

August 31, 2020

AFib rates continue to rise, especially among older patients

The study's authors tracked EHR data of more than 500,000 patients from a single health system in Pennsylvania.

August 28, 2020

Cardiologist may have just saved the 2020 college football season

Michael Ackerman, MD, PhD, spoke to Big 12 representatives at length about COVID-19, myocarditis and how playing games may impact the safety of college athletes.

August 19, 2020

Many cardiac arrest deaths actually the result of an overdose

The team behind the analysis explored autopsies, toxicology reports, medication lists and prior health records for its research.

August 18, 2020

Atrial fibrillation outcomes have improved, but more work is still necessary to ‘stem the epidemic’

Researchers explored 43 years of data from the Framingham Heart Study.

August 12, 2020

Heart Rhythm

History made: Young child treated with new heart device for very first time

ACC offers practical approaches for arrhythmia monitoring after stroke

FDA announces recall of cryoablation catheters after multiple injuries, including 4 deaths

Cardiologists perform world’s first leadless LBBAP procedures with Abbott pacemaker

President of medical device company resigns over conduct allegations after 7 months in role