A new AI-based approach can predict whether people with type 2 diabetes are likely to develop chronic kidney disease years before symptoms arise, allowing for earlier intervention and treatment.
Newborns with heart complications can rely on their immune systems to regenerate, but adults aren’t so lucky. A new study explores this mechanism, paving the way for treatments after a heart attack.
The installation of a state-of-the-art digital PET/CT scanner in Essen marks the German debut for the technology of United Imaging. The device is designed to deliver precision diagnostics at the Kliniken Essen-Mitte Evang and the private nuclear medicine clinic Nukmed, a premier cancer care institution.
“There’s nothing else we can do”, “Why did you wait so long to come?” – doctors should avoid using such phrases. A new study points out the destructive potential of “never words”.
An AI-enabled digital stethoscope could help doctors identify twice as many cases of heart failure during pregnancy compared to regular obstetric care and screening, acording to a new study.
Not just a Nirvana song, but also an effective way to keep a donor heart fresh for transplantation: New research shows the benefits of “heart-in-a-box” storage.
New research sheds light on the tradeoffs between survival and time spent in inpatient care that dialysis might entail. This could help patients with kidney failure make more informed decisions.
Blood cancer cells can remain in the blood of AML patients, even after chemotherapy seemed successful. Testing for these residuals before blood cell donation is a vital precaution, a new study finds.
Matching the right donor heart to the right recipient at the right time is a complex task. Now, experts point out how AI can provide unbiased decision-support for transplantation process.
Although robots are common to assist in surgery, robotic assistance is not routinely used for lung transplants. However, this might change soon, according to an expert speaking at the ISHLT meeting.
A special perfusion machine preserves donor livers for an extended period of time without compromising organ quality. New Dutch research has confirmed the safety of the procedure for recipients.
Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, have genetically engineered stem cells so that liver cells obtained from them would be invisible to the immune system.
AI features for automation, integrated systems and more: the role of medical technology has never been as vital as today, and MedTech companies from Taiwan are putting their best foot forward to contribute. At the 2023 Medica trade fair, visitors of the Taiwanese pavilion not only had the opportunity to see the latest medical products on display, but also get acquainted with Taiwanese culture in…
The consortium Holland Hybrid Heart will receive €10 million to develop a soft robotic heart suitable for transplantation.
Results from a large European study reinforce the use of Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) in heart transplant patients as a treatment for heart transplant rejection and prevention of rejection.
Using an organ from a donor who underwent cardiac death, Stanford Medicine surgeons transplanted a heart while it was beating - the first time such a procedure has been achieved.
Donor hearts from people who were Covid-19-positive appear to be as safe for transplantation as those from people without Covid-19, according to a new short-term analysis.
Despite treatment, chronic lung diseases such as COPD or cystic fibrosis can become so severe that a lung transplant is necessary. Dr Urte Sommerwerck explains which patients might be considered for transplantation and why follow-up is as important as the surgery itself.
A new heart transplant technique, which allows surgeons to transplant donor hearts that have stopped beating after death, is reducing waiting lists for patients in Australia and potentially around the world.
With the life expectancy of populations improving, experts believe the rising diagnosis and prevalence of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) will have a significant impact on healthcare services going forward.
Interventional cardiologists in Seattle recently performed a first-in-human procedure, successfully employing a catheter-delivered device to retrieve a benign tumor from inside a patient’s heart.
Cardiomyopathy is not a uniform disease. Rather, individual genetic defects lead to heart failure in different ways, an international consortium reports.
By recreating the helical structure of heart muscles, bioengineers improve understanding of how the heart beats.
The research team Liver4Life has treated an originally damaged human liver in a machine for three days outside a body and then implanted the recovered organ into a cancer patient.
Dormant herpesviruses induce their reactivation via a previously unknown cellular mechanism mediated by a viral microRNA, Würzburg researchers discovered.
US surgeons perform historic first successful transplant of porcine heart into adult auman with end-stage heart disease.
Doctors in Lisbon report on the case of a 61-year-old man who received a double lung transplant after his lungs were irreparably damaged by Covid-19.
PET/MRI is offering new imaging opportunities for cancer patients at various points along the care pathway with its ability to assess different biological processes and its increased specificity.
The first investigational transplantation of a genetically engineered, nonhuman kidney to a human body was recently completed at NYU Langone Health—marking a major step forward in potentially utilizing an alternative supply of organs for people facing life-threatening disease.
Beige is considered a calming paint color, and scientists have new evidence that beige fat has a similar impact on the brain, bringing down the inflammation associated with the more common white fat and providing protection from dementia. They have found that beige fat cells, which are typically intermingled with white fat cells in the subcutaneous fat present on “pear shaped” people, mediate…
Researchers have found a way to reduce organ rejection following a transplant by using a special polymer to coat blood vessels on the organ to be transplanted. The polymer, developed by Prof. Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu and his team at the Centre for Blood Research and Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia, substantially diminished rejection of transplants in mice when…
A new research project will embrace the combination of 5G telecommunications technology and AI to offer continuous remote monitoring to seriously ill heart failure patients, for example those with Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs).
First you see it as a transparent shape on a computer screen – a small electronic replica of the human pancreas. Then just 30 seconds later the tissue is printed out on a bioprinter, blood vessels and all, from a sample of human stem cells. This amazing feat is possible thanks to new technology created at EPFL’s Laboratory of Applied Photonics Devices (LAPD) and further developed by…
Researchers at the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center (HUG-CELL), hosted by the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) in Brazil, have developed a technique to reconstruct and produce livers in the laboratory. The proof-of-concept study was conducted with rat livers. In the next stage of their research, the scientists will adapt the technique for the production of…
With the first-in-man implantation of the Berlin Heart Venous Cannula at the LMU University Hospital Munich, Germany, Berlin Heart offers patients with a failing Fontan circulation a unique chance to survive the waiting time for a donor heart. These patients are in a life-threatening condition: their health has deteriorated so much that they desperately need a new heart, but because of their poor…
Research into 3D bioprinting has grown rapidly in recent years as scientists seek to re-create the structure and function of complex biological systems from human tissues to entire organs. The most popular 3D printing approach uses a solution of biological material or bioink that is loaded into a syringe pump extruder and deposited in a layer-by-layer fashion to build the 3D object. Gravity,…
Over 23 million people around the world suffer from heart failure. The disease is usually treated with a transplant, but because donated hearts are hard to come by, there is an ongoing need for alternative therapies. With new developments in cardiac assistance systems, we can delay the need for a transplant – or even eliminate it altogether,” says Professor Yves Perriard, head of EPFL’s…
Engineers at EPFL’s Center for Artificial Muscles have developed a silicone aorta that can reduce how hard patients’ hearts have to pump. Their breakthrough could offer a promising alternative to heart transplants. “Over 23 million people around the world suffer from heart failure. The disease is usually treated with a transplant, but because donated hearts are hard to come by, there is an…
Although the name may suggest otherwise, Parkinson's disease is not one but two diseases, starting either in the brain or in the intestines. Which explains why patients with Parkinson’s describe widely differing symptoms, and points towards personalised medicine as the way forward for people with Parkinson's disease. This is the conclusion of a study which has just been published in the leading…
While about a quarter of physicians and researchers working in advanced heart failure (HF) and transplant cardiology are women, representation of women leading HF research remains limited, according to new research led by Penn Medicine. The authors say the findings point to a need to support great gender diversity among researchers to drive diversity among clinical trial participants and even…
Siemens Healthineers AG took a big step last October. To incorporate treatment along an entire clinical path, the firm acquired Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc., to combine image-guided diagnosis with robot-assisted surgery. A couple of months later, the Corindus endovascular robotic system CorPath GRX was used to implant a vascular stent into an obstructed coronary artery – the first use of…
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) announced its shortlist of four research projects competing for a single £30 million award. The charity says it is one of many radical new approaches needed to address a frightening mismatch in research funding compared with the burden of heart and circulatory diseases. With the World Health Organization forecasting an increase in cardiovascular deaths…
A major £2.4 million research project is underway at the University of Birmingham aimed at improving treatment for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS affects at least ten percent of all women and causes irregular periods and difficulties trying to conceive.
Robocath, a company that designs, develops and commercializes cardiovascular robotic systems for the treatment of vascular diseases, announced it has successfully completed six robotic coronary angioplasties with R-One, a first for the continent of Africa. The Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) were performed by Dr Faizel Lorgat, an interventional cardiologist at the Netcare Christiaan…
Twenty people die every day waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S., and while more than 30,000 patients now receive transplants annually, another 113,000 are currently on organ waitlists. Many people see artificially grown human organs as the Holy Grail for resolving the organ shortage, and advances in 3D printing have led to a boom in using that technique to build living tissue constructs…
Researchers have discovered a unique combination of cells grown from stem cells that could prove pivotal in helping a heart regenerate after a patient has suffered a myocardial infarction. The University of Cambridge research team found that transplanting an area of damaged tissue with a combination of heart muscle cells and supportive cells, similar to those that cover the outside of the heart,…
A discovery by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast and King’s College London (KCL) could revolutionise treatment for vascular and diabetes related cardiovascular diseases.
In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have "printed" the world's first 3D vascularised engineered heart using a patient's own cells and biological materials. Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine — a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology — have been successful in printing only simple tissues without blood vessels. "This…
UC San Francisco researchers have for the first time transformed human stem cells into mature insulin-producing cells, a major breakthrough in the effort to develop a cure for type 1 (T1) diabetes. Replacing these cells, which are lost in patients with T1 diabetes, has long been a dream of regenerative medicine, but until now scientists had not been able to figure out how to produce cells in a…
More than 100 million Americans have potentially deadly fatty liver disease and most do not even know it. Overeating and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol this holiday season could put someone with the disease on the fast track to liver failure. “There are no symptoms associated with fatty liver disease and no pain, so most people never get checked or treated for it and, over time, if it is…
A major study has been launched to investigate the interaction between genes and lifestyle factors and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Led by Professor Stuart Cook, at the National Heart and Lung Institute, this, the largest ever DCM study, will investigate why people develop DCM, with a focus on who is most at risk of sudden death or heart failure (HF). Six hospital trusts across England –…
Weak, easily broken bones are an epidemic in the United States. They’re often tied to osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to degenerate over time. This makes them less flexible, more brittle, and easier to break. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, more than 44 million Americans aged 50 and older either have or face the threat of developing osteoporosis due to low bone…
Patients’ own immune response has the potential to prevent the development and progression of heart failure, according to research presented at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2018, a European Society of Cardiology congress. The study found antibodies in the plasma and heart muscle of end-stage heart failure patients. “The role of the immune response in the development of heart…
Children's Hospital Los Angeles is announcing participation in the first-ever clinical trial using stem cells from umbilical cord blood to delay or even prevent heart failure in children born with a rare congenital heart defect that leaves them with half a heart. The Phase I study is part of a multi-center collaboration dedicated to employing innovative therapies to improve outcomes for children…
Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a new strategy to efficiently isolate, mature and transplant skeletal muscle cells created from human pluripotent stem cells, which can produce all cell types of the body. The findings are a major step towards developing a stem cell replacement therapy for muscle diseases including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which…
Radiation therapy often is used to treat cancer patients. Now, doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that radiation therapy — aimed directly at the heart — can be used to treat patients with a life-threatening heart rhythm. They treated five patients who had irregular heart rhythms, called ventricular tachycardia, at the School of Medicine. The patients…
21st century challenges are multitudinous for all. Ageing populations, a changing disease burden; increasing obesity with associated morbidities – Type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease; climate change pressures and more. Any new build plan demands a low carbon footprint; respect for the environment is paramount. To capture all those elements, the plan to regenerate a previously 10…
Modifying a DNA sequence to alter a cell to cure a disorder, prevent a genetic disease being passed on to next generations, or to use genetic modification as a way to diagnose a virus: yes, these tasks are possible. The recently discovered CRISPR technique can do it all.
Every cancer is different and every patient is different. This insight gained in personalised medicine prompted oncology researchers to focus more on the individual patient’s immune system. It is particularly the immune system’s ability to destroy cancer cells that raised hope.
A certain immune reaction is the key, not to slowing atherosclerosis like cholesterol-lowering drugs do, but instead to reversing a disease that gradually blocks arteries to cause heart attacks and strokes. This is the finding of a study in mice led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center.
The University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center is actively recruiting for a clinical trial that is researching the effectiveness of a breath test for breast cancer diagnostics. The BreathLink device, manufactured by Menssana Research, Inc., captures a two-minute sample of a patient’s breath and provides immediate results on whether there are indications of breast…
'Blood is a very special juice’ – something even Goethe’s Mephistopheles knew. Medics have also known this for centuries, so it’s nothing new that the ‘juice’ and its properties receive a lot of attention in medicine. However, what is new is that dealing with the use of blood through patient blood management (PBM) is coming to the fore.
MBM ScienceBridge GmbH successfully negotiated a license agreement between Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Stiftung Öffentlichen Rechts, Universitätsmedizin (UMG) and the biotech company Repairon GmbH about commercial production and use of engineered human myocardium for heart failure repair. The production methods are based on the scientific work from the group of Prof. Dr.…
In rare cases, a dangerous bacterial infection occurs following major cardiac surgery. A device which is used for the regulation of body temperature has been found to be responsible for this. Since this discovery was made, Bern University Hospital has been working on guidelines for infection prevention.
A new method which doubles the usual time donor lungs can remain outside the body can benefit patients, staff and allow retrieval of donor lungs across greater geographical areas, says a study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Mechanical ventilation and subspecialisation are key aspects of modern anaesthesia and critical care practice according to Dr Javier Garcia Fernandez, Head of Critical Care and Anaesthesiology at University Hospital Puerta de Hierro in Madrid.
Using the results from a computerized mathematical model, Johns Hopkins researchers investigated whether they could improve heart and lung transplantation procedures by transferring patients from low-volume to high-volume transplant centers.
A small report in the press prompted examination of a much neglected topic. The report read ‘Heart Centre at University Hospital no longer carries out transplants’, and referred to the University Hospital Frankfurt, one of the 22 Heart Centres that perform these transplantations.
As part of a national, joint research project in cooperation with Chronix Biomedical (San Jose, CA/USA/Göttingen/Germany), Professor Michael Oellerich MD is on new biomarkers in organ transplantation, aiming to develop personalised immunosuppression for patients. This also entails the development of molecular test procedures, among others for the early detection of rejection. The keyword here is…
In addition the technique to grow the blood vessels in a 3D scaffold cuts down on the risk of transplant rejection because it uses cells from the patient. It was developed by researchers from the University of Bath's Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, working with colleagues at Bristol Heart Institute.
On top of the meaning and mystery that humans heap on the heart, it is first and foremost, a muscle. And one that beats about once a second for a person’s entire life, with no rest. Given its vital importance, it’s ironic researchers have only recently made direct observations of its subcellular parts in motion.
With 4,360 transplant operations from 1,682 donations in 2014, Spain broke the country’s own record and confirmed its place as the world leader in organ donations, a position it has held for the past 24 years.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and associate professor of medicine Dr. William H. Fissell IV, is making major progress on a first-of-its kind device to free kidney patients from dialysis. He is building an implantable artificial kidney with microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be powered by a patient’s own heart.
When cells die, they don't vanish without a trace. Instead, they leave behind their fingerprints in the form of cell-free DNA. In people, these tiny fragments of DNA can be found in the bloodstream.
Following a heart attack or other heart trauma, the heart is unable to replace its dead cells. Patients are often left with little option other than heart transplants, which are rarely available, or more recently cell therapies that transplant heart cells into the patient's heart.
A new cellular structure responsible for previously unexplained rejection of organ transplants has been identified by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM.)
With 3-D printing revolutionising manufacturing, its healthcare potential is being explored for medical devices, prosthetics, dentistry and drug development. One area under the spotlight is the creation of artificial muscles using a 3-D printing system. Dr Fergal Coulter, who has played an important role in helping develop the technique, outlined the manufacturing process, which he invented for…
A new 3D computer modeling system may significantly improve a surgeon's ability to select the best sized donor heart for children receiving heart transplants, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2015.
In a small pilot study, researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated a rapid, simple way to generate large numbers of lung stem cells for use in disease treatment. This method of harvesting and growing a patient’s own lung stem cells shows promise in mice for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and could one day provide human IPF sufferers with an effective, less…
Innovative presentations, ground-breaking science and inspirational lectures underlined the diversity of sessions at the British Cardiovascular Society 2015 conference held in Manchester this June.
People waiting for organ transplants may soon have higher hopes of getting the help that they need in time. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have developed a new technique that extends the time that donor organs last and can also resuscitate organs obtained after cardiac arrest.
Genetically engineered fibers of the protein spidroin, which is the construction material for spider webs, has proven to be a perfect substrate for cultivating heart tissue cells, MIPT researchers found. They discuss their findings in an article that has recently come out in the journal PLOS ONE.
Regenerative medicine uses cells harvested from the patient’s own body to heal damaged tissue. Fraunhofer researchers have developed a cell-free substrate containing proteins to which autologous cells bind and grow only after implantation.
Publicly insured Americans who undergo lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis fare markedly worse in the long run than both publicly insured patients in the United Kingdom and privately insured Americans, according to the results of a study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and U.K. colleagues working in that nation’s government-funded National Health Service.
Another patient in the final stages of heart failure has received an artificial heart at Nantes UniversityHospital Centre, according to Carmat, the manufacturer of the device. Report: John Brosky
Donor transplant rejection and cancer relapse have two things in common: early recognition is vital and monitoring is hugely challenged.
The University Medical Center in Utrecht (UMCU), The Netherlands, is in the process of creating a multidisciplinary centre of excellence, able to manage resources efficiently while delivering the highest level of patient care and clinical research.
French authorities have given the green light for continuing the clinical trial for the first fully implantable mechanical heart after a four-month review of the device and the causes of death of the first patient to receive the prosthesis
In a study that began in a pair of infant siblings with a rare heart defect, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified a key molecular switch that regulates heart cell division and normally turns the process off around the time of birth. Their research, they report, could advance efforts to turn the process back on and regenerate heart tissue damaged by heart attacks or disease.
The first patient to receive a totally implantable artificial heart died 75 days after the procedure. The cause of death on March 2, 2014 was not disclosed in a short announcement made by the Hôpital Georges-Pompidou in Paris. European Hospital reported on his new heart device in the recently published issue 1/2014.
Fully implantable mechanical hearts bring hope to 121,000 heart failure patients who will never receive a heart transplant
The number of patients treated with implants – from cardiac pacemakers, heart valves and vascular implants to artificial hips and knees – is rising worldwide.
Since minimally invasive surgery (MIS) entered cardiac surgery in the mid-1990s it became unthinkable not to use this medical specialty. However, MIS procedures do not always result in the best outcome for patients.
Professor Axel Haverich and team at the Clinic for Cardiothoracic, Transplant and Vascular Surgery in Hanover Medical School (MHH) have been carrying out research into decellularised heart valves for over 15 years. They trialled a procedure – initially in the laboratory and in animal experiments – which does not cause tissue rejection, is hoped to last a lifetime and, in the case of children,…
The C-Pulse, manufactured by Australian-American company Sunshine Heart, Inc. is neither a pulsatile artificial heart nor one of the well-known non-pulsatile left heart support systems
The 2013 ESC Guidelines on Cardiac Pacing and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy¹ developed in collaboration with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), have created a new classification system for bradyarrhythmias according to mechanisms rather than aetiology.
CARMAT, the designer and developer of the world’s most advanced project of total artificial heart, announces today that it has obtained the approval of four renowned international cardiac surgery centers in Belgium, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Slovenia to proceed with the first clinical implantations of its bioprosthetic total artificial heart.
Numerous cardiac muscle cells die following myocardial infarction, due to reduced blood flow in the affected muscle areas. What remains is a scar, which also mechanically affects cardiac pumping. The muscle itself has no, or hardly any, capacity to regenerate itself.
MRI has become the gold standard for many indications in cardiac imaging, apart from imaging the coronary arteries. For function and morphology assessment, MRI is the leading technology. A further advance into as yet unknown territory is myocardial imaging aided by one of the first integrated 3-Tesla PET/MR systems currently used at the Institute of Radiology, Essen University Hospital,…
Simultaneous surgical successes open new perspectives for multiple transplants
Can an anaesthetist treat a patient with heart failure (HF) without any specialist knowledge of cardiology? That was the question posed by Dr Florian Weis, from the Clinic of Anaesthesiology at the University Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, when lecturing on perioperative management of this patient group.
The 24th International Symposium of the AACC Critical & Point of Care Testing Division. Report: Michael Reiter
Artificial hearts, originally designed to bridge the time on the waiting list for a heart transplant, in recent years have increasingly become an independent treatment option for patients with chronic heart failure (HF).
The Danish inventor of an aortic valve for transcatheter implantation (TAVI) gains recognition for his achievement by colleagues within the European Society of Cardiology
Artificial hearts, originally designed to bridge the time on the waiting list for a heart transplant, in recent years have increasingly become an independent treatment option for patients with chronic heart failure (HF). Interview: Bettina Döbereiner
Rarely have the topics at the EHFG been so relevant to the current international economic crisis – reason enough for EH correspondent Christian Pruszinsky to interview the Forum’s founder and outgoing President Professor Günther Leiner.
The Collaborative Transplant Study has evaluated data on approximately 500,000 transplantations worldwide, providing a scientific basis for organ allocation and transplant treatment.
Italy’s Emilia Romana, a core area for the biomedical devices industry, has reportedly suffered 40 earthquakes in the past year, the biggest and most recent of about 6-magnitude, Brigitte Dinkloh repors
Meeting with EH editor Brigitte Dinkloh, Congress Secretary Professor Alexis Ulrich MD (left), Assistant Medical Director at the Clinic for General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery at the University of Heidelberg, outlined the scientific programme, discussed some impressive advances in surgical procedures, and explained why the gathering bears the slogan Surgery in Partnership.
If the hopes of inventors are to be believed, in around 20 years’ time there will be ‘real artificial lungs -- for now the endpoint of a history that began 84 years ago with the invention of the iron lung. Until then, non-invasive and invasive mechanical respiration will continue to dominate the hospital, complemented by extracorporeal procedures for blood oxygenation and decarbonisation,…
A Birmingham hospital is pioneering a new procedure which aims to maintain and improve the quality of organs for transplantation in recipients on the waiting list.
When the ISICEM 2012 opens this March, Brussels will again experience a healthy influx of medical specialists intent on hearing the most recent, clinically relevant developments in research, therapy and management of the critically ill.
Modern medical technology is evidently held in high esteem by the general population. In a recent survey conducted by the market research institute Emnid commissioned by the industry association SPECTARIS, about 80% of the patients surveyed said that under certain circumstances they would be willing to pay more for their health insurance in return for consistent treatment with state-of-the-art…
Located in Vatican City in the heart of Rome, the Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù not only profits from a literally blessed base but also from an advanced IT-infrastructure in the radiology department. For over a year and a half, the largest children’s hospital in Italy has worked with the Carestream PACS, connecting the institution with two cooperating sites, one in Palidoro, one in St.…
From guidelines to daily clinical practice: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy is increasingly important in heart failure treatment. The therapy is complex, the demands to medical technology high. Holger Zorn reports
An artificial heart will be implanted in a patient before the end of 2011, marking a milestone in medicine. The developers are now accelerating plans to manufacture thousands of these mechanical hearts for patients worldwide, reports John Brosky
Recent events have again underlined the reason why Papworth Hospital in ambridgeshire, England, maintains a enowned international reputation for cardiac and thoracic procedures. As Britains largest specialist cardiothoracic hospitals, over 2,000 major heart operations were performed there in 2010. In the year ending 1 April 2011, 824 patients had coronary bypass operations, including urgent,…
‘Sacrilegious meddling with divine providence’ was the charge brought against New York cardiologist Alfred Hyman in the 1930s when, after successful animal experiments, he applied the first cardiac pacemaker – then still a cumbersome external device – in human patients. A quarter of a century later the first cardiac pacemaker, mounted in a shoe polish tin and covered by epoxy resin, was…
Although donor organ management is improving, the number of heart transplants is decreasing. According to Eurotransplant, 115 heart transplants were performed in the first quarter of 2011 compared to 149 of such interventions in the same period last year.
Initially meant to bridge the gap before a heart transplant is performed, today ventricular assist devices (VADs) are increasingly considered ‘a lasting therapy option’, according to Professor Heinrich Schima, Head of the Centre for Medical Physics and Biomedical Technology at the Medical University of Vienna.
Bypass surgery figures declined again in 2010. Reason: Most coronary heart disease (CHD) patients are being treated by removal of the obstruction followed by stent implantation -- a situation criticised by Professor Jochen Cremer, first Vice President of the DGTHG (German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery).
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, a global leader in the science of heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring, announced that interim data from a multi-center European prospective study of the investigational EDWARDS INTUITY Valve System showed promising results for patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR).
A little over three decades after the world's first human heart transplant (HT), Carmat’s life-size artificial heart, a mix of animal tissue, titanium and missile technology that perfectly replicate a human heart, might save the lives of thousands.
A Pisa-based team has established the Adonhers (Aged Donor Heart Rescue by Stress Echo) protocol and is using second-opinion stress tele-echocardiography to assess the condition of the heart from older donors. A key aspect of this was to raise the donor cut-off age limit from 55 to 65 years, where the stress echo screening on the candidate donor showed as normal.
This April the 77th Annual Meeting of the German Cardiac Society (DGK) presented over 300 events with 1,800 speakers, covering the entire spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, from fundamental research to clinical routine. Professor Gerd Hasenfuss, Director of the Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology and Chair of the Heart Research Centre in Gottingen, particularly requested a focus on …
You often need the vision of a hypermetropic eagle to find Malta on the world map – even its name fills more space than the representation of the island itself. And yet, in the Eurobarometer 2010 survey, among the recent European Union Member States, the Maltese showed an unusually high level of consent (72%) to organ donation and 77% are willing to donate their own organs, making us a beacon…
Vienna - For the 23rd time, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) is opening its doors to welcome 19,000 participants from over 90 countries. The scientific exchange of knowledge and the presentation of the latest developments in the field of radiology will again be presented right in the heart of Europea. In an inaugural press conference on March 3rd, the hot topics of the congress were…
Surgeon Alain Carpentier is ready to remove a patient’s heart and replace it with a mechanical device he spent 15 years developing. By 2013 the procedure will be performed on 50 European patients as part of a clinical trial to win CE approval for the world’s first fully implantable artificial heart.
Since June 2009, the focus of research in the European Network for Cell Imaging and Tracking Expertise (ENCITE) has been on finding biomarkers to aid cell transplantation. Funded with €11 million from the European Commission (EC), this major project that runs until 2013, involves 10 countries. Their work is coordinated by the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR) network,…
When we organised the first Diagnostic Week in Karlsruhe, in 1969, no one could have known that this event would one day turn into the annual highlight in the world of medicine, reflected Dr Wolfgang Albath, laboratory medicine pioneer and one of the founding fathers of MEDICA the world`s largest medical trade show. Initially planned as a moving exhibition, the show has been based in…
A pioneering new treatment to repair leaking heart valves is being performed at a UK hospital as part of a clinical research trial. The minimally-invasive procedure to treat mitral regurgitation involves surgeons passing a device through a vein in the neck and into a patient's heart.
The global prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus is rapidly accelerating towards a disastrous impact in just two decades.
British girl Hannah Clark who was given an extra heart as a toddler has become the world's first heart transplant patient to make a full recovery after having her donor organ removed and function restored to her original heart. The case highlights that in some cases of cardiomyopathy, it is possible for the patient's own heart to make a full recovery if it is given adequate support to do so.
Waiting lists for organ transplants are lengthening in most European countries, forcing the need to increase donations higher up the medical and political agenda, Mark Nicholls reports. Spain continues to lead the way in organ donation with the so-called Spanish Model approach, while other countries, e.g. the UK, are debating whether to adopt 'presumed consent' and an 'opt-out' rather than…
There is a profound difference between the complexity of cosmetic surgery or organ transplant procedures, for example, and other operations. Whilst procedures such as hair transplants or eyelid surgery present an alteration to the owner's body composition and changes to the patient's outlook, those changes were desired and planned for, in the hope that something marvellous will result and so…
Testing people for heart disease might be just a finger prick away thanks to a new credit card-sized device created by a team of researchers from Harvard and Northeastern universities in Boston.
Last year a special cardiac surgery department was opened in the Filatov Children's Hospital in Moscow. Until then, the only one in all of Russia was at the Children's Hospital #1, in Saint-Petersburg, where cardiac surgeon Vadim Lubomudrov has led the field in this delicate work.
The 9th Annual Spring Meeting of the European Society of Cardiology Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (CCNAP), organised in cooperation with the Irish Nurses Cardiovascular Association (INCA), is being held at the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland, on 24-25 April.
Thanks to cell therapy, researchers have found new ways to understand and potentially treat heart diseases and degenerative conditions such as Parkinson's and cancer. The role of imaging is becoming more and more important, especially in understanding the action of transplanted cells in situ.
The clear focus of the numerous lectures given at the International MRI Symposium was on cardiac imaging.
Worldwide interest in portable systems for cardiopulmonary support has grown significantly. While some systems are at the brink of market introduction, German company Lifebridge Medizintechnik AG reports that it is 'at the top of this medical technology market', for its smallest, lightest (18kg) system, Lifebridge B2T ('Bridge to Therapy') has been in clinical use since the beginning of 2008.…
In October, the office of the Federal President announced that Professor Haverich, with his Hanover research team, has been nominated for the 'German Future Prize' for the development and successful use of adaptable biological heart valves
ESC speaker John Cleland from the University of Hull, UK, sumed up the latest treatment available for patients with diabetes mellitus and expressed his worries about side-effects and efficacy of available anti-diabetic drugs. If you want to read his ESC abstract, just click the “read more” button.
Approximately 31 million people in the European Union are suffering from diabetes, a devastating disease with severe consequences for patients and their families, but also for the society at large and the economic prosperity of Europe. This week EH Online will focus on innovative strategies in diabetes care and on new management systems to support physicians and patients alike. Moreover, we will…
Transapical aortic valve implantation (TA-AVI) is a new therapeutic strategy, which has been implemented successfully into clinical practice in several hundred patients suffering symptomatic aortic stenosis and an increase perioperative risk during the past two years. The Edwards SAPIEN™ prosthesis has been used.
The ageing population and growing risk factors have made a significant impact on driving up the number of registered heart failure (HF) cases. Existing pharmacological strategies are improving the survival rates of acute and early-stage HF patients, ironically providing a growing body of patients with progression of the disease to HF.
Every summer the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) holds Europe's biggest annual meeting of specialists in cardiovascular medicine, inviting and drawing in top international medical professionals. Karoline Laarmann asked Professor Kim Fox, President of the European Society of Cardiology and Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and professor of clinical cardiology at Imperial…
Stefan G Ruehm, Kambiz Nael, Derek Lohan and Henrik J Michaely* describe impressive images that benefit patient treatment
From September onwards, Europe's largest academic health science partnership will start its programm in London, UK. Their focus will lay on preventing and treating major diseases in 10 key areas.
Arrythmogenic remodelling of the left atrium is a common complication of atrial fibrillation, leading to severe haemodynamic disturbances.
The Czech Republic's first cardiac transplant took place in 1984; now about 40 take place annually. The country's first lung transplants began ten years ago; to date around a hundred have been performed by Professor Pavel Pafko and colleagues at the Motol Faculty Hospital, in Prague.
Three types of human heart cells have been grown from cultures derived from embryonic stem cells, by a team of Canadian, US and UK scientists.
In the heart of Paris, the Necker children's hospital, the oldest in the world dedicated to paediatrics, was suffocating inside a completely inward-looking enclave. The challenge was to achieve a vast upheaval to overcome the hospital's lack of relationship with its surroundings and open it onto the city, while also carrying out an in-depth metamorphosis to adapt it to new requirements.
Lifebridge is the first portable heart-lung machine which promises a great success for the clinlical use.
The new £2 million remote access stereotaxis catheter laboratory at London's Heart Hospital, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), is the first of its kind in the UK and one of only 40 worldwide.
Every fourth patient suffering from an irreversible heart defect and due for a heart transplant dies while waiting for a donor organ despite the use of extracorporeal blood pumps. A new ventricular assist device (VAD), currently under development at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), promises a new approach to help these patients. The fully implantable heart support device might be an effective…
Results of a gender-specific study to assess the efficacy of the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent in women undergoing coronary revascularisation were released at the European Society of Cardiology Congress by interventional device developer Boston Scientific.
Since the 1950s, the American Heart Association (AHA) has urged a large number of people to take antibiotics before dental work or other procedures that could flood the bloodstream with bacteria. This antibiotic intake was thought to prevent infective endocarditis.
Cardiac infarction is characterised by tissue ischaemia with loss of contractile heart muscle.
Progenitor cell transfer to repair the damaged heart has emerged as an innovative and promising recent development in cardiovascular medicine.
The Glide Solid Dose Injector (SDI), the needle-free drug delivery system that injects drugs in solid dosage form into the skin, has contributed to its manufacturer, Glide Pharma, winning the Best Business Award at the 2007 Medical Futures Innovation Awards.
By Kaj Blomqvist MSc (E.E.), electronic engineer for the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), and currently in charge of the `Picis CareSuite Project´, which aims to automate all HUS acute care departments.
Almost one in three people over 55 will develop congestive heart failure, research has revealed. The Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based study of cardiovascular and other diseases in the elderly, monitored 7,983 inhabitants of Ommoord, a Rotterdam suburb (source: Eur Heart J 2004: 25, 1614-19).
New pulsatile heart pumps (ventricular assist devices - VAD) can remain in the body as a permanent heart support.
By Professor Gustav Steinhoff MD, director of the Department for Cardiac Surgery, and Christof Stamm MD, co-ordinator of clinical studies, at Rostock University, Germany
UK - Ten years ago a donor heart was transplanted into a 2-year-old patient, suffering cardiomyopathy, to take over the function of her own enlarged and failing heart. However, unlike many transplant cases - her own heart was not removed.
Transplant surgeons use checklists to establish whether donor and recipient hearts are compatible - almost like people looking for suitable partners.
Ventricular assist devices (VAD) have been used since the 1980s, primarily to provide support after cardiac surgery for several days during recovery, or more often to keep patients alive until later heart transplantation (HTx).
Cardiac assist devices (CAD) are blood pumps that support the circulatory functions of severely ill cardiac patients.
Implants presently in use consist of a smooth or textured silicone shell filled with a silicone gel or saline solution. The latter has one decisive drawback - the breast may cool considerably in winter. Smooth silicone implants may also shift or turn.