When approached again, about a quarter of patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib) not taking anticoagulants due to physician-cited “patient refusal” said they would consider taking the drugs, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

Over the coming weeks, CMS will unveil a mandatory Medicare payment model for radiation oncology, Alex Azar, Health and Human Services secretary, said in a recent speech. The announcement drew a mixed reaction from the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Among patients with restored ventricular function who were taken off their heart failure medications, 44 percent relapsed within eight weeks. Researchers said the trial indicates most of these patients should remain on their treatments indefinitely.

Sacubitril-valsartan therapy was associated with greater reductions in N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) than enalapril among patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure, according to research presented Nov. 11 at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions and published online simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.

VITAL and REDUCE-IT—both highly anticipated trials revolving around the cardiovascular benefits of fish oil products—delivered mixed results at this year’s AHA Scientific Sessions in Chicago, with one trial observing few heart benefits from omega-3s while the other saw a 25 percent reduction in major cardiovascular events with a purified eicosapentaenoic acid product.

New cholesterol guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recommend adding ezetimibe and/or PCSK9 inhibitors to statin therapy for select high-risk patients, and also propose using coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring as “a tiebreaker” to guide statin decisions for those at intermediate risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Social media app Snapchat has been credited with saving 39-year-old Darnisha Ladd’s life after a recorded video helped physicians diagnose the young stroke survivor, allowing them to administer life-saving medication with 12 minutes to spare, the Omaha World-Herald has reported.

Exposure to blue light could decrease an individual’s systolic blood pressure by as much as 8 mm Hg in just half an hour, researchers report in a study co-led by the University of Surrey, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and Philips.