Visceral Fat Over Weight Loss; BP Control Incentive Backfires; PVCs Not Benign

Losing visceral fat by diet and exercise — regardless of pounds shed or later regained — was tied to long-term improvements in cardiometabolic health, follow-up data from two randomized trials showed. (Circulation)

A study suggested that one gut microbial species has the potential to relieve cardiotoxicity associated with microplastics exposure. (Circulation)

The FDA cleared the automated ejection fraction calculator for the Clarius wireless ultrasound scanner app, Clarius Mobile Health announced.

Cardiosense said its PCWP Analysis Software received FDA de novo authorization for calculating pulmonary capillary wedge pressure based on a wearable sensor.

AccurKardia was granted a patent for its machine learning technology identifying cardiac amyloidosis (including major subtypes) solely from standard electrocardiograms (ECGs).

Certain units of Abiomed’s Impella CP Sets with SmartAssist need to be returned due to a low purge pressure issue. As of last month, there have been three pump exchanges and one death linked to this problem, the FDA said.

Advances in CT may reduce the overestimation of coronary calcification, according to a cadaver study. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)

Meanwhile, sub-Agatston coronary artery calcification, measured by the vulnerable calcium index, was predictive of major adverse cardiac events in a retrospective analysis. (European Journal of Preventive Cardiology)

Even patients with angiographically confirmed chronic total occlusion could still have viable myocardium depending on their Rentrop collateral grading, an observational cohort study suggested. (Open Heart)

A hypertension control financial incentive added to physicians’ contracts in a large health system had little impact on all outcomes measured, including antihypertensive prescriptions, dose adjustments, and hospitalizations for incident stroke or acute coronary syndrome. (JAMA Internal Medicine)

Intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering after successful reperfusion in acute ischemic stroke led to worse functional outcomes at 1 year in the OPTIMAL-BP trial. (Stroke)

In the CLEAR Outcomes trial, bempedoic acid (Nexletol) was associated with a reduced risk of venous thromboembolism. (JAMA Cardiology)

Naloxone was tied to better clinical outcomes in suspected opioid-associated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, a California cohort study showed. (JAMA Network Open)

The optimal serum potassium level in heart failure, regardless of ejection fraction, appeared to be 4.2 to 5.0 mmol/L, according to a patient-level meta-analysis. (European Heart Journal)

For people without structural heart disease, a premature ventricular complex (PVC) burden >1% on Holter monitoring portended long-term ventricular remodeling in a retrospective study. (Heart)

Novo Nordisk said its observational study showed that cardiovascular inflammation remains highly prevalent among people with cardiovascular disease, despite guideline-recommended treatments.

A cardiology office caught on fire in upstate New York. (News10NBC)