Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health plans to create and renovate more than 260,000 square feet of its heart and vascular facilities, it said May 4.

Four cardiologists who have recently stepped into new roles: 

Surgeons at Hollywood, Fla.-based Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital recently treated a patient with an opening defect in the wall of their heart using the first nonmetallic-framed transcatheter occluder.

Moultrie, Ga.-based Colquitt Regional Medical Center recently became the first in the state to offer patients the MyoSPECT, a new single-photon emission computerized tomography device, The Moultrie Observer reported May 2.

Here are the top 10 cardiology stories Becker's covered in April:

Six firsts in the cardiology field Becker's has covered since March 21: 

Morton Mower, MD, a pioneering cardiologist who was the co-inventor of the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator, died of cancer at 89 on April 25, The Baltimore Sun reported April 30. 

Boone, N.C.-based Appalachian Regional Healthcare System plans to open a heart and vascular clinic May 3 at Ashe Memorial Hospital in Jefferson, N.C. 

Interventional cardiologists and a cardiothoracic surgeon at Louisville, Ky.-based Norton Heart and Vascular Institute performed the region’s first successful transcatheter replacement of a native mitral valve, the center said in an April 26 email to Becker's. 

Between 2017 and 2021, 602 heart transplants were performed at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai's Smidt Heart Institute, more adult heart transplants than at any other U.S. program, according to the center's annual report released last week.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., launched an interventional cardiology program and opened a catheterization lab April 25. 

Daily use of low-dose aspirin is no longer recommended for the prevention of heart attacks in adults 60 and older, according to an independent panel of U.S. experts in primary care and prevention.

Heart centers across the nation continue to reach milestones in the use of a variety of procedures. 

Here are three recent moves from the American College of Cardiology Becker's has reported on since March 16: 

The American Heart Association and The Joint Commission will begin offering a Comprehensive Heart Attack Center certification program July 1. 

Four hospitals and health systems that have opened new heart clinics or launched new programs since March 23: 

Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health has opened a heart disease clinic for pregnant and postpartum women. 

A patient who received a double heart valve replacement at the University of Alabama in Birmingham on Oct. 2, 1990, was recently named the Guinness World Record holder for the longest survivor of the procedure.

Here are four recent cardiology guidance updates Becker's has reported on since Feb. 23: 

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia launched the CHOP Cardiovascular Institute to further research into pediatric cardiovascular diseases.