Benzodiazepines are administered before a majority of cardiac surgeries to lower the risk of intraoperative awareness. At the same time, however, recent studies have suggested they increase the risk of postoperative delirium.

"The onus is on us as cardiologists to make sure we offer the very best possible devices for our patients with the available data that we have," interventional cardiologist Anene Ukaigwe, MD, explained. 

Women with cardiovascular disease are consistently underdiagnosed and undertreated compared to men, and those disparities are true for aortic stenosis as well. Women with symptomatic severe AS are up to 35% less likely than men to undergo aortic valve replacement, for example, and they often have to wait longer just to be referred for further care.

Frank Kryzak has filed a lawsuit against Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital after an exploratory surgery allegedly left him in a mysterious state of agony for four months. 

A 54-year-old heart transplant recipient was unable to take doctor-prescribed medications during his brief stay at a local jail. He died a few days after being released. 

The American Society of Echocardiography included descriptions, diagrams and ultrasound images in the new document to make it as helpful as possible. 

A new post-stroke care pathway from Viz.ai and Medtronic is associated with significant benefits, including higher patient and clinician satisfaction.

More than 100 incidents have been reported so far. The FDA is still evaluating this issue, but the agency wanted to raise awareness as quickly as possible.