Atrial Fibrillation News and Research

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia. An arrhythmia is a problem with the speed or rhythm of the heartbeat. A disorder in the heart’s electrical system causes AF and other types of arrhythmia. AF occurs when rapid, disorganized electrical signals in the heart’s two upper chambers, called the atria, cause them to contract very fast and irregularly (this is called fibrillation). As a result, blood pools in the atria and isn’t pumped completely into the heart’s two lower chambers, called the ventricles. When this happens, the heart’s upper and lower chambers don’t work together as they should. Often, people who have AF may not even feel symptoms. However, even when not noticed, AF can lead to an increased risk of stroke. In many patients, particularly when the rhythm is extremely rapid, AF can cause chest pain, heart attack, or heart failure. AF may occur rarely or every now and then, or it may become a persistent or permanent heart rhythm lasting for years.

Webcast on the treatment of cardiovascular diseases

On September 24th at 7:00pm EDT, Dr. Holly Andersen, Director of Education and Outreach at the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, will host a live webcast exploring the advances and innovations in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. The air live on ORLive.com from the Hospital's new Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute.

25 Sep 2009

St. Jude Medical's cardiovascular healthcare portfolio to be presented at TCT meeting

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) today announced it will display products and technologies from the company’s portfolio of solutions for cardiovascular healthcare professionals at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting in San Francisco. The featured products reflect the company’s continued commitment to developing comprehensive, high-performance solutions which advance the practice of interventional cardiology by improving efficiencies and giving physicians more control.

23 Sep 2009

Women have higher incidence of stroke and mortality than men

Even though the incidence of atrial fibrillation is higher in men than women, a review of past studies and medical literature completed by cardiac experts at Rush University Medical Center shows that women are more likely than men to experience symptomatic attacks, a higher frequency of recurrences, and significantly higher heart rates during atrial fibrillation, which increases the risk of stroke.

23 Sep 2009

Transoma Medical commences enrollment in its COMPLIANCE atrial fibrillation clinical trial

Transoma Medical, Inc., manufacturer of Sleuth AT™, the only wireless, automated implantable cardiac monitoring system with programmable and frequent electrocardiogram (ECG) sampling, announced today the first enrollment and implant in the COMPLIANCE trial, a long-term study to compare external event recorders with implantable monitors in patients who have been prescribed catheter ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) at risk of post-procedure AF recurrence.

23 Sep 2009

New wireless Fractional Flow Reserve system to evaluate blood flow blockages in the arteries

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ) today announced the first use of the PressureWire™ Aeris technology, an interventional tool which measures Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) to evaluate the severity of blood flow blockages in the arteries. This first-to-market technology helps interventional cardiologists better determine the ideal treatment option for their patients during coronary interventions, such as stent procedures.

22 Sep 2009

AFib ablated using visually-guided laser balloon catheter

Physicians at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York became the first in the U.S. to ablate atrial fibrillation using a visually-guided laser balloon catheter.

21 Sep 2009

Study reveals that KCNE2 and KCNQ1 mutations can results in thyroid dysfunction

Genes previously known to be essential to the coordinated, rhythmic electrical activity of cardiac muscle -- a healthy heartbeat -- have now also been found to play a key role in thyroid hormone (TH) biosynthesis, according to Weill Cornell Medical College researchers.

21 Sep 2009

Four single-letter variations in SNPs increse prostate cancer risk

deCODE genetics (Nasdaq: DCGN) today announced that a team of its scientists and academic colleagues from Finland, Spain, the Netherlands and the United States have today published the discovery of four novel single-letter variations in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) conferring increased risk of prostate cancer.

21 Sep 2009

AF Stat Call to Action for Atrial Fibrillation document released

A diverse collaboration of healthcare leaders today released the AF Stat Call to Action for Atrial Fibrillation to serve as a roadmap for reducing the burden of atrial fibrillation (AFib) in the United States. The document outlines critical issues surrounding the management of AFib, and recommends priority actions in the areas of policy, management, education and quality.

17 Sep 2009

FDA clears Hansen Medical's Sensei X Robotic Catheter System

Furthering the medical robotic frontier in electrophysiology (EP), Hansen Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: HNSN) today announced it has received U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its next generation Sensei® X Robotic Catheter System and it introduced the Artisan Extend™ Control Catheter. The company also introduced the Lynx™ Robotic Ablation Catheter, a small, flexible irrigated ablation catheter for customers in Europe.

16 Sep 2009

IMPROVE HF clinical trial results presented at annual HFSA meeting

Twenty-four month findings from IMPROVE HF, (The Registry to Improve the Use of Evidence-Based Heart Failure Therapies in the Outpatient Setting), funded by Medtronic, Inc., demonstrated that clinics using the process improvement program increased adherence to evidence-based, guideline-recommended care by 82 and 62 percent, respectively, for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) use, and 80 percent for aldosterone antagonist use, all relative to baseline results.

15 Sep 2009

FDA approves St. Jude Medical's EnSite Velocity Cardiac Mapping System

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ) today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and U.S. launch of its EnSite Velocity™ Cardiac Mapping System. This new system has been designed to help physicians more efficiently diagnose and guide therapy to treat abnormal heart rhythms.

14 Sep 2009

Phase III clinical trial results of DAR-31 published

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced the publication of data from DAR-311 (DORADO), a Phase III clinical trial evaluating the company’s once-daily oral endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) darusentan as an add-on treatment for resistant hypertension, defined as the failure to achieve blood pressure goal while adhering to full doses of an appropriate three (or more) drug antihypertensive regimen that includes a diuretic.

14 Sep 2009

New Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry system from CardioNet

CardioNet, Inc. today announced the availability of new, innovative clinical and reporting enhancements to the Company’s existing Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry™ (MCOT™) service.

11 Sep 2009

Center for Health Studies is renamed as SEATTLE-Group Health Research Institute

SEATTLE-Group Health Research Institute is the new name of Group Health Center for Health Studies. Since 1983, it has been doing research to improve health and health care for all. The Institute is the research arm of Group Health Cooperative, and it is changing its name to reflect this relationship more clearly.

10 Sep 2009

St. Jude Medical's Brio neurostimulator receives CE Mark approval

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) today announced CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark approval of the Brio™ neurostimulator, the world’s smallest, longest-lasting rechargeable deep brain stimulation (DBS) device for treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. A 67-year-old man who has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for more than 26 years became the first person to be implanted with the Brio neurostimulator.

9 Sep 2009

Sequoia Hospital completes 1000 atrial fibrillation ablation procedures

Sequoia Hospital announced that the Cardiac Arrhythmia Program has completed 1,000 atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) ablation procedures, making it the highest total volume A-Fib ablation institution currently performing ablations in Northern and Central California.

9 Sep 2009

CRT-D implants for treating sudden cardiac death

Electrophysiologists Robert Stevenson, MD, and Jeffrey L. Williams, MD, MS, FACC, are safely implanting cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators in the Good Samaritan Hospital (GSH) Cardiology (Heart Failure) Program.

3 Sep 2009

Irregular heartbeat is a common cause of stroke

Mellanie True Hills knows personally the toll that atrial fibrillation (afib) takes. Just two years ago, with a sense of urgency about afib that only a survivor can possess, she designated September as Atrial Fibrillation Month.

2 Sep 2009

Survey on the current routine practice in CRT implantations in patients with heart failure

The European cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) Survey is a joint initiative taken by the Heart Failure Association (HFA) and European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the European Society of Cardiology. Its primary objective is to describe current European practice and routines associated with the implantation of a CRT device with or without an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) capability in patients with heart failure.

2 Sep 2009