People living in the Canadian province of Manitoba are facing up to 70-week waits for elective echocardiograms, CBC reported May 28—dozens of weeks longer than those living in neighboring Saskatchewan and Ontario provinces.

Women are less likely to be resuscitated by bystanders than men in cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, and when resuscitation is attempted they see lower survival rates, according to research published in the European Heart Journal May 21.

An absorbable, antibiotic-eluting mesh envelope significantly reduced the incidence of major cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infections in a recent study of nearly 7,000 patients, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine May 16.

A six-week online training course centered around living with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) helped alleviate anxiety in heart failure patients who were apprehensive about their devices.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science have developed an algorithm that can identify precise internal targets for ablation in atrial fibrillation patients—the first, they say, that can do so without the help of specialized catheters or 3D electroanatomic mapping.

A high intake of grapefruit juice—and other dietary flavonoids found in fruits, vegetables, tea and wine—could correspond to QT interval prolongation in healthy individuals and those with heart disease, leaving them vulnerable to serious arrhythmias like torsades-de-pointes.

A trio of studies presented at the Heart Rhythm Society’s 40th annual scientific sessions earlier this month highlight significant disparities in patient access to implantable cardiac devices—particularly in women and black patients.

The FDA is updating azithromycin drug labels to reflect evidence that the medication can contribute to a rare heart rhythm abnormality known as torsades de pointes.