Five firsts in the cardiology field Becker's has covered since Feb. 2:
1. Physicians at Rady Children's Hospital in Encinitas, Calif., performed the hospital's first dual heart and kidney transplant, NBC San Diego reported March 14.
2. Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health performed the world's first dual heart-thymus transplant procedure last August, the system said March 7.
3. A dual-chamber leadless pacemaker system was implanted in the first U.S. patient as part of a global clinical trial at Cleveland Clinic, the system said March 2.
4. Using temperature-controlled preservation systems from Paragonix Technologies, four U.S. transplant centers collaborated to transport a pair of donor lungs and heart 4,000 miles, enabling record long-distance transplants, the company said Feb. 2.
5. New Brunswick, N.J.-based Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital became the first in the U.S. to receive robotic telecardiac ultrasound technology from France for clinical use, the hospital said Feb. 2.