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St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ) announced it has received European CE Mark approval for the industry's first quadripolar pacing system for cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds). The quadripolar system offers physicians the ability to more effectively and efficiently manage the ever-changing pacing needs of patients with heart failure.

Currently abundant on most grocery store shelves, seals of approval for purportedly healthful food selections may become scarcer in the coming year. Some labels claiming foods are "smart choices" or "heart healthy" are patently misleading, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has threatened to prohibit such promotional labeling when it ignores unhealthy aspects of a product. [More]

Surgeon to stop heart valve operations until an investigation into an infection which killed four patients ends.

In a surprise and not very welcome finding, researchers report that fish oil supplements do not ease depression in individuals who suffer from both depression and coronary heart disease.

A diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) significantly increased the risk of subsequent hip fracture in both women and men, a Swedish twin study found.

A new article at MSNBC.com reported that a sperm donor from San Francisco passed on a genetic heart condition to 9 out of 24 of his biological children. One of those children died from heart failure at age 2. The genetic heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is apparently not that uncommon of a genetic condition, affecting 1 in 500. The donor bank where the condition was passed on has now started screening all potential donors for this condition (which does not always express symptoms) by giving the men an ECG. The article also mentioned that most banks screen for genetic disorders via blood test, but this particular disorder has been pretty much ignored. The genetic disorders that have been included in regular screening are actually less common than this heart condition. The story highlights the need for careful screening of all donors - sperm and egg donors. Of course, when a couple has a baby (without using a sperm donor), there is the potential to pass on whatever healt

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Good news for men who farm U.S. fields. Regular exposure to pesticides used commonly on the farm does not appear to increase the risk of heart attack.

A US jury's decision that an antidepressant caused heart defects in an unborn baby is highlighting the painful dilemma facing pregnant women with depression. The most common antidepressants have been ...

Giving omega-3 fatty acids along with sertraline to patients with depression and coronary heart disease did not augment the effect of the antidepressant, according to a study in the Oct.

Without Medical Testing of Donors, Children Can Inherit Potentially Deadly Genetic Conditions