In Global News: Professional Athletes and Large Aortas, the Apple Watch and AFib, and a Second Surgery For Billy Kimmel

Patient Care

US states that implemented policies for screening newborns for critical congenital heart disease have seen reductions in infant cardiac deaths compared to states that didn’t implement screening.

Jimmy Kimmel’s infant son, whose medical care has been in the spotlight as part of the US healthcare debate, is recovering from his second heart surgery.

The man who received the first locally-developed mechanical heart valve in India, the TTK-Chitra valve, celebrates 27 years with his mechanical valve.

Surgeons in New York City remove a tennis ball-sized tumor from a man’s heart.

Drugs and Devices

The US Food and Drug Administration announced new guidance on 3D-printed medical devices.

A transcatheter device for mitral regurgitation that is anchored entirely in the left atrium was awarded Best Technology Parade Presentation at the International Conference for Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Edwards Lifesciences has purchased Harpoon Medical, including its mitral valve repair device that is expected to receive CE mark approval soon.

Research, Trials, and Funding

Adding atezolizumab, an anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy, to an antiangiogenic biologic drug and chemotherapy delayed progression of non-small cell lung cancer regardless of PD-L1 expression, in an early report from the phase III IMpower150 trial.

Former US National Football League athletes were found to have a higher incidence of an ascending aorta over 4 cm wide than similarly aged men who were not professional athletes.

Apple and Stanford University have launched the Apple Heart Study, which uses an app linked to the Apple Watch to monitor participants for irregular heart rhythms.