Balloon Pump Woes Worsen; Access to AEDs Act; DOACs and Epilepsy

The troubles with Cardiosave Hybrid/Rescue intra-aortic balloon pumps keep growing: a larger class I recall is underway due to unexpected device shutdowns, according to the FDA.

Camber Pharmaceuticals recalled one lot of its atovaquone pneumonia medicine due to potential Bacillus cereus contamination that could cause infection and endocarditis. (CBS News)

Introducing the Access to AEDs Act, a bill to support life-saving response to sudden cardiac arrest in student athletes. If passed, the legislation would create a federal grant program for schools to purchase, maintain, and provide training for automated external defibrillators and to create athlete screening programs, says the office of Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.).

Income-based disparities in heart attack treatment and survival were observed across the U.S., Canada, England, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Israel. (JAMA)

A video-based decision support tool did not sway more Black people to accept implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. (Annals of Internal Medicine)

Known information about people's clinical and genetic risk is not enough to supplant their self-reported family history of heart disease, according to an analysis of the U.K. Biobank. (European Journal of Preventive Cardiology)

Meta-analysis finds behavioral weight management programs reduce cardiometabolic risk for at least 5 years despite whatever weight is regained in the interim. (Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes)

Antiphospholipid antibodies were a predictor of cardiovascular risk in a population-based cohort study. (JAMA Network Open)

The natural history of people with ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm suggests a lower threshold for aortic size for prophylactic surgical repair. (European Heart Journal)

Cardiologist Shirlene Obuobi, MD, shares how having a creative outlet helps her experience in medicine. (Washington Post)

Abbott says the FDA approved its Epic Max stented tissue valve for surgical aortic valve replacement.

Stroke patients who had received endovascular therapy did not have outcomes differ significantly between procedural sedation and general anesthesia. (JAMA Neurology)

Direct oral anticoagulants were tied to an increased risk of epilepsy compared with warfarin in a German case-control study. Perhaps covert brain infarction is at play? (EP Europace)

Norway's nationwide records do not support an increased risk of stroke in the weeks following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. (Stroke)

New York State's PCI registry shows that by the second quarter of 2021, prepandemic volumes had rebounded and COVID-19 infection was no longer associated with mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention. (Catheterization & Cardiovascular Interventions)

Over a year of treatment with the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab (Repatha) resulted in significant regression of coronary plaque burden and plaque stabilization in familial hypercholesterolemia patients without clinical heart disease. (Circulation)

Does the association between triglycerides and cardiometabolic risk apply to those of West and East African descent? (eBioMedicine)

Electrophysiologist Leigh Ann Hutchinson, MD, is suing Northwell Health in New York for alleged racial discrimination related to events in which she was reportedly unfairly subject to remedial training after a patient's death and subsequently blocked from performing complex procedures. (Newsday)

Comment