Anthony DiGiorgio, DO, MHA

Heart Failure

PREVENT-TAHA8 Supports Stem Cells for Post-MI HF

Stem cell therapy for post-MI heart failure might deserve a second look, after the PREVENT-TAHA8 trial demonstrated that mesenchymal stem cell infusion within days of STEMI significantly reduced 3-year HF incidence.

• Stem cell therapy research has suffered some setbacks over the past decade, with several failed trials that used bone marrow stem cells raising skepticism.
• However, mesenchymal stem cells derived from Wharton’s jelly (umbilical cord connective tissue) may represent a superior approach.

Based in Iran, the PREVENT-TAHA8 trial, randomized 396 patients following LAD STEMI with LVEF <40%, to receive either an intracoronary mesenchymal stem cell infusion 3-7 days post-PCI plus guideline-directed medical therapy or GDMT alone. The 3-year outcomes showed striking differences…

• Heart failure incidence was reduced by 57% with stem cell therapy, while HF readmissions dropped 78%.
• The composite of cardiovascular mortality and MI was significantly lower with stem cells (HR 0.39), though individual MI readmission, all-cause, or CV mortality showed no differences.
• LVEF improvement at 6 months was approximately 6% greater in the treatment group versus controls, suggesting functional cardiac benefits beyond clinical event reduction.

Given the high costs of HF hospitalization, stem cell therapy could help avoid HF’s economic burdens if larger studies replicate these findings and future treatments are cost effective.

• However, development costs, trial expenses, and competition from pharmaceutical approaches create a challenging commercialization landscape.

Despite these compelling clinical results, the stem cell field still faces a credibility crisis due to earlier studies overpromising and underdelivering, so these mesenchymal stem cells have a lot to prove in future studies.

The Takeaway

It makes sense that for a condition like heart failure, repairing the heart is the true solution rather than treating the symptoms. Whether that’s with stem cells or another method remains to be seen, but if future studies can validate the results of PREVENT-TAHA8, we might get closer to a cure for heart failure.

Explore Vitrea Advanced Visualization

Discover Canon Medical Healthcare IT’s suite of advanced imaging workflows designed to increase efficiency in cardiovascular imaging, and facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. These cutting-edge tools support the delivery of faster, more accurate care while integrating seamlessly into clinical workflow

PIA Medical Processes It All

Need an analysis like calcium scoring, strain or even FFR? PIA Medical began as a Core Lab and can handle creative cardiac research and clinical trials along with the full breadth of clinical analyses available today.

Heartflow Roadmap Analysis For Efficient Care

As Coronary CT scan volumes increase, your entire reading team needs to deliver efficient and consistent reads. Good thing Heartflow’s Roadmap Analysis can help you maintain accuracy and increase CCTA read speeds by up to 25%, with even level 3 readers seeing real efficiency benefits.

The Wire

• 2026 Cardiology CMS Changes: CMS released its 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, but many cardiologists aren’t happy. The new schedule increases conversion factors by 3.77% for APM participants and 3.26% for non-participants, with cardiology payments rising approximately 1%. Other changes include a –2.5% efficiency adjustment to work RVUs for most codes, a 50% reduction in indirect expense allocation for hospital services (cutting RVUs by ~10%), and a mandatory 2027 Ambulatory Specialty Model for HF management. Notably, left atrial appendage closure RVUs decreased from 14.00 to 10.25, prompting protests from several cardiology societies.

• UnitedHealthcare Cuts RPM: UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage and commercial plans will only cover RPM for two conditions next year: heart failure and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The world’s largest private payor opted to dramatically scale back coverage after deciding that RPM is “unproven and not medically necessary” for conditions ranging from diabetes and hypertension to COPD and mental health. The policy cited nearly 30 studies to back up that conclusion, although UHC quickly got pushback for “cherry-picking those studies and drawing arbitrary conclusions.”

• Goodbye Independent Providers: The latest NBER data shows what many studies have shown before: hospital ownership of physician practices is skyrocketing. From 2008 to 2022, the percentage of physicians acquired by either a hospital or health system nearly doubled, from 27.5% to 52.1%. The growth was seen across every specialty, especially surgical specialties. Cardiologists have been the most impacted (hospital ownership up 38.4%), followed by general surgeons (28.1%), with primary care physicians seeing a more moderate increase of 18.1%.

• Too Much of a Good Thing? In the age of AI, data is king, but new research out of Tufts University suggests that collecting too much data can hold back clinical trials. Researchers found that nearly one-third of the information collected across 105 trials was either “non-core” or “non-essential,” and more than half of that extra data came from patient surveys. The authors’ big takeaway is that clinical teams should think through protocol design decisions to avoid costly mistakes with “downstream site feasibility and site burden.”

• Cardiovascular Health Linked to Brain Decline: Another research study links poor cardiovascular health in middle age to later brain decline. In a new EHJ study, U.K. researchers found that among almost 6k people, those with dementia had higher levels of cardiac troponin I that were detectable almost 25 years before their diagnosis. In a subset of 641 patients who had brain MRI scans, those with the lowest troponin levels had a smaller hippocampus area and less gray matter, and their brains appeared three years older.

• Viral Infections are Bad for The Heart: According to a new JAHA study, adults face triple the risk of heart attack or stroke in the 14 weeks following COVID-19 infection, with flu posing even greater cardiovascular dangers. Researchers analyzed 155 studies from 1997-2024, finding that COVID-19, flu, HIV, hepatitis C, and shingles all significantly increase heart disease and stroke risks. Some studies suggest flu vaccines reduce major cardiovascular events by up to 34%, so these findings emphasize the importance of infection prevention, particularly for those with existing cardiovascular conditions.

• QuidelOrtho’s VITROS Clearance: The FDA cleared QuidelOrtho’s VITROS hs Troponin I Assay for diagnosing myocardial infarction through quantitative cardiac troponin I measurement. This high-sensitivity test integrates seamlessly into existing VITROS Systems workflows, enabling faster, more accurate heart attack detection in emergency settings. With cardiovascular disease causing one in three U.S. deaths, high-sensitivity troponin assays can reduce 30-day mortality by 12% and one-year mortality by 10% in suspected acute coronary syndrome patients.

• PROCTOR and PCI Vessels: Recent findings from the PROCTOR trial challenge the current PCI guidelines that favor native vessel intervention. The study randomized 220 post-CABG patients with saphenous vein graft failure to either native vessel or SVG PCI across 14 European centers, finding that at one year, major adverse cardiac events occurred in 34% of native vessel PCI patients versus 19% receiving SVG PCI (HR: 2.14). Native vessel PCI also showed significantly higher rates of target territory MI (HR: 2.12) and repeat revascularization (HR: 2.19).

• Crab-Walking Away from MAC: While it might sound like a dance move, cardiac researchers just developed the novel “Crab-Walk” technique that uses Edwards’ PASCAL Precision system for treating mitral annular calcification. The new technique was used on an 83-year-old woman with severe degenerative MR, extensive MAC, and small mitral valve area who faced high surgical risk and unfavorable anatomy for TMVR. Using the new technique resulted in an edge-to-edge repair that successfully reduced her regurgitation to mild.

• Lowering LDL-C After a Stroke: Findings from a FOURIER trial analysis suggest intensive LDL-C lowering with Amgen’s Repatha (evolocumab) below 40 mg/dL may benefit post-stroke patients. The study followed 5.3k patients with prior ischemic stroke for up to 7.2 years, and found that patients achieving LDL-C <40 mg/dL showed 31% lower composite CV death, MI stroke, hospitalization and coronary revascularization rates. They also experienced 27% lower stroke rates compared to those with LDL-C ≥70 mg/dL, who didn’t already face increased stroke risk.

• Shockwave IVL Works for PAD BTK: Johnson & Johnson MedTech announced one-year DISRUPT BTK II results showing that the Shockwave Peripheral IVL System is effective for calcified below-the-knee lesions in peripheral artery disease patients. The 250-patient study demonstrated a 94.8% freedom from major amputation, 84.5% freedom from target revascularization, and 67.1% durable patency. Among CLTI patients, only 8.1% required amputation, with Rutherford classification improving from 80.1% to 25.1%.

A Single Cardiac Service Line Platform

Transitioning across multiple imaging platforms is a daily reality for many cardiologists, but it doesn’t have to be. See how three leading cardiac imagers are leveraging Circle CVI’s unified multi-modal software across their diverse caseloads, without switching to other platforms.

Identify and Treat Cardiovascular Disease

Complex care pathways make getting patients to the next step a challenge. See how Tempus Next, an AI enabled care pathway platform, helps providers identify and reduce under treatment in cardiovascular disease by adding an intelligent layer onto their routinely generated EHR data.

GLS Analysis of Us2.ai’s Fully-Automated Software

Ten years after the first head-to-head comparison of 2D echocardiography, the latest review suggests Us2.ai is among the easiest to use and integrate. Read the study to learn about how Us2.ai’s software requires zero operator input, operates without human intervention, and leads to high agreement with traditional semi-automated speckle- tracking software solutions.

The Resource Wire

• Heart Failure Hospitalization Doubles Risk of Cardiovascular Death: 21% of patients with symptomatic heart failure escalate to hospitalization for heart failure or cardiovascular death, and 25% of those who experience hospitalization are readmitted due to heart failure within one year of discharge. Watch Bayer’s Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon discuss heart failure hospitalizations and when to assess care plans.

• Siemens Healthineers ACUSON Origin Ultrasound System is Redefining CVUS: ACUSON Origin meets the demands of today’s cardiovascular care with AI-powered efficiency across adult and pediatric echo, vascular, structural heart, and EP. Streamlined workflows, intuitive walk-up usability, and advanced ergonomics empower clinicians to deliver confident, high-quality care—supporting a wide range of complex cases and clinical applications.

• CMR Access Is Broken—Here’s How to Fix It​: Cardiac MRI is one of the most powerful tools for diagnosing heart disease, yet it’s still out of reach for many patients. Download Vista AI’s new infographic to see what’s holding CMR adoption back—and how AI and automation can help make gold-standard imaging more accessible than ever.

• RoR in the Real World with Monebo and UNCG: Strenuous exercise can significantly reduce people’s heart relaxation reserve, putting them at risk without preliminary warning signs. Find out how Monebo’s new Reserve of Relaxation technology provides a crucial tool for anyone looking to enhance their physical performance without harm.

• A Solution for Your Entire Cardiology Service Line: The pace of change in healthcare can be dizzying, creating new and more complex challenges for cardiology departments to overcome. See how Merge Cardio and Merge Hemo can turn those challenges into opportunities for greater workflow efficiency and improved care.

The Industry Wire

1. FDA rocked by latest personnel controversy as Tidmarsh resigns.
2. FDA to discuss health risk of chatbots at advisory meeting.
3. Trump administration nears cost deals with drug makers.
4. Medicare cuts 2026 reimbursement rates to specialty physicians.
5. Hippocratic AI raises $126M to build healthcare AI agents.
6. “Free” AI pilots are costing health systems millions. 
7. Kimberly-Clark to buy Tylenol maker despite Trump autism claims.
8. Healthcare M&A lags 2024’s pace.
9. Male doctors get mammograms to raise screening awareness.
10. Maine health system apologizes to 531 (living) patients declared dead.