Advances in mitral valve replacement
Initially limited to the aortic valve, interventions are becoming routine for the mitral valve. Thus the only available product has enjoyed huge commercial success – until now. Report: Holger Zorn
Cardiovascular diseases
CIED patients can have MRI examinations
A new generation of cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) includes the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-Ds) and Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Pacemakers (CRT-Ps). Professor W R Bauer at University Hospital Würzburg has been significantly involved in their development, EH Editor Ralf Mateblowski to ask him about…
Nanotechnology
Over the last five years the tiniest particles have attracted large attention in relation to the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Indeed, as in other medical disciplines, nanotechnology is advancing in cardiology despite as yet insufficient research on the extent of its effect and double blind studies to confirm findings
Teamwork works well in Hamburg
One heart – One Team, the motto for this year’s German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Congress emphasises that cardiac surgeons and cardiologists must now work more in tandem for their mutual patients. This is not just a short-lived three-day slogan, but a daily reality at the University Heart Centre Hamburg, as EH correspondent Holger Zorn reports
Learning from the deceased
The case-based approach holds considerable promise for medical science. In a way, it’s a return to the roots, since this approach was common at the dawn of modern medicine. A case serves as a narrative that can be explored interactively in order to draw a conclusion, determine a course of action, or debate issues in a realistic context. Spanish cardiac imaging consultant Dr Rafael Vidal Perez,…
Fatty Blood
Michael Rühl from the University of Greifswald, Working Group on Immunoadsorption and Cardiovascular Technology, describes therapies to tackle familial hypercholesterolemia
A heart for jellyfish
In a paper published in ”Nature Biotechnology” on the 22nd of July of 2012 Harvard researchers explain how making a jellyfish from rat DNA can help to solve cardiac problems.
Looking beyond the lungs: don’t forget the cardiac structures!
So close yet so far away! A fitting description of many diagnostic examinations of heart and lungs. Modern imaging modalities allow these two neighbouring organs to be evaluated together, nevertheless it is rarely done.
CT use increases for CAD diagnosis
Computed tomography (CT) has become central to the diagnosis and characterisation of coronary artery disease (CAD) and, in the future, could even supplant invasive coronary angiography as the technology increases sensitivity.
EuroPRevent 2012
CVD prevention experts will meet in Dublin from 3-5 May for the leading international forum for preventive cardiology, Finn Snyder reports.
The PARTNER Trial
Cohort A and B Results. Aortic stenosis is characterised by the hardening and narrowing of the aortic valve that pumps blood into the body’s main artery. It affects nearly 5% of those over 75 in Europe, with an estimated 16,000 Britons suffering from severe aortic stenosis.
The Symetis Acurate TA Aortic Bioprosthesis and delivery system
A new transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system for transapical treatment of severe aortic stenosis – Acurate TA and delivery system –is a second- generation TAVI device to treat elderly patients. Launched by the Swiss firm Symetis SA, the system gained CE approval last September is on sale in Europe.
Art improves stroke survivors' quality of life
Stroke survivors who like art have a significantly higher quality of life than those who do not, according to new research. Patients who appreciated music, painting and theatre recovered better from their stroke than patients who did not.
Peripheral arterial occlusive disease Long balloons are the gold standard
Every year, around 80,000 lower extremities in Europe have to be (partially) amputated as a result of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). Half of the affected patients die within five years of the amputation.
New generation drug-eluting stents
A registry -which includes every patient in Sweden having percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for the treatment of acute and stable coronary artery disease- has found that PCI implantations using a new generation of drug-eluting stents is associated with lower rates of relapse (restenosis), stent thrombosis and subsequent mortality than older generation drug-eluting stents and bare-metal…
Congenital heart defects
The German Paediatric Heart Centre (DKHZ) is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Over 25 years the centre has treated big and small patients with congenital heart defects, very now and then being faced with rare, individual cases that present very particular challenges. In any one year, consultant paediatric cardiologist Professor Martin Schneider MD encounters perhaps five such non-…
Article • Focus on TAVI
Transcatheder aortic valve implants
With transcatheder aortic valve implants (TAVI) forming some 20% of all heart valve replacement procedures today, and the technology constantly developing, the 'real art' to the intervention's success lies in precise patient selection and procedure performance carried out by a multi-disciplinary and effective team, according to Simon Redwood, Professor of the interventional cardiology at King's…
A niche with no lobby
Italy is a front runner in diabetic foot revascularisation. Among the country’s pioneers is Professor Roberto Gandini, at the Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Radiology Department, University of Tor Vergata in Rome, who has developed and improved new technical options in peripheral vascular disease intervention, a technique that now saves about 92% of patients from major amputations due…
Coronary Heart Disease can be diagnosed and treated earlier using new techniques
Prof. Uwe Nixdorff from the European Prevention Centre, Düsseldorf advocates cardiologists combine IMT measurement with ALOKA’s pulse wave intensity function to check for unseen coronary heart disease: “This technique is currently seldom used, however in my experience it provides a more complete picture and enables me to treat patients earlier for life-threatening conditions that are often…
Sheffield Hospitals to work on prestigious heart failure research project
Researchers in Sheffield have been given an mportant grant to trial state-of-the-art computer modelling systems that could provide a breakthrough in the treatment of patients with heart failure.
Touch screen cardiopulmonary diagnostics
Schiller reports that its new range of touch screen ECG systems combines precision performance and attractive ergonomics. With a touch to the large, high-resolution colour display, 12-lead ECGs and pulmonary function tests can be recorded, selected and printed in seconds.
ESC roundup: Fixing heart conditions
Devices to treat chronic cardiac disease are winning credibility with new evidence from large-scale patient registries, John Brosky reports
Cardiac resynchronisation therapy
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
Congenital heart disease
New research carried out in the UK has revealed that young children with congenital heart disease are at risk of having harmful toxins in their blood, particularly following surgery. Mark Nicholls reports
Civilisation Diseases breaking economic growth
More than 63% of all deaths in the world are caused by so- called non-communicable diseases. In the WHO-region of Europe it’s even higher – 86%. The direct and indirect economic costs are huge – to the point of posing a real threat to growth in crisis-hit economies. Therapy alone is not enough, World Bank strategist Dr. Armin Fidler told the European Health Forum Gastein. Effective…
