Newly reported data presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) from the SYNTAX clinical trial (SYNergy Between PCI With TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery) reveal similar safety and efficacy outcomes when the use of a drug-eluting stent is compared to heart bypass surgery in patients with left main disease.

Delaying elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery may be a significant risk factor for post-operative death. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Health Services Research reveals that when patients received timely surgery, the risk of death was reduced by a third.

Heart patients often experience lasting problems with memory, language, and other cognitive skills after bypass surgery. However, these problems aren’t caused by the surgery itself or the pump used to replace heart function during surgery, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The findings may lead to better approaches to prevent cognitive decline regardless of which treatment heart disease patients receive.

Minimally invasive heart bypass surgery using a DaVinci robot means a shorter hospital stay and faster recovery for patients, as well as fewer complications and a better chance that the new bypass vessels will stay open.

Bristol researchers have identified a heart protection mechanism in mice that surgeons and cardiologists may be able to exploit to improve treatments for patients in future.

Despite strong evidence that cardiac rehabilitation reduces disability and prolongs life, fewer than one in five people receive rehabilitation services after a heart attack or coronary bypass surgery, according to a Brandeis study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Heart surgeons don't have to choose between taking a coronary-bypass patient off the popular anti-clotting drug clopidogrel (Plavix) after off-pump heart bypass surgery or having the patient bleed excessively in the days following surgery, according to a new study by researchers at Jefferson Medical College.