Scientific meetings held since 1998 at Alpbach, Germany, have attracted the sponsorship of leading associations and companies such as the Philip Morris External Research Programme, the Donors Association of German Science, Swiss National Fund, the German Heart Centre Foundation, Berlin, and Philips Medical Systems. At the 4th Alpbach Meeting, which focused on Magnetic Resonance, Contrast…
We asked Professor Badiale about progress in the understanding of women and heart disease.
Paris, France - The explosive growth in demand for drug eluting stents has shaped a market worth more than six billion euros annually.
The latest textile technologies go along with fabric integrated sensors, or computers, to measure e.g. the functioning of a patient's cardiovascular system.
Berlin became the venue for the German Congress of Radiology this May, for the second time. 118 exhibitors showcased products on 4,900 square metres, and the event attracted 7,000 radiologists, and 970 medical-technological radiology assistants (MTRA) to convene simultaneously, leading some to suggest the city will be the future home of the Congress.
Recent advances in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may offer a new approach to treating this complex group of patients.
Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) found out that patients with generalised aggressive periodontitis generally had elevated plasma levels.
A connection has been discovered between raised levels of the liver enzyme Gamma-Glutamyl-Transferase (GGT) and the probability of death from diseases of the cardiovascular system or strokes.
France - EuroPCR is a major European event for interventional cardiologists and radiologists. Focusing on existing and new technologies in percutaneous interventions (coronary, peripheral and non-coronary cardiac diseases), cardiac and vascular invasive and non-invasive imaging, this year's meeting will take place at the Palais des Congrès, Paris, from 16-19 May.
UK - Fire-fighters are being trained to assess possible cardiac patients in emergencies, and to use automatic defibrillators and oxygen therapy.
When heart valves need replacing mechanical or biological heart valves are usually used. Both have disadvantages: Mechanical prostheses promote the development of blood clots so that patients need anticoagulant treatment for their lifetime.
Many companies are competing to develop the ideal transcatheter heart valve and catheter-based valve replacement procedures, which are revolutionizing valve replacement for larger patients.
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.
A report about the installation of a new HIS in combinations with the setting up of a new Economic Software platform at Semmelweis University.
Countries in the European Union spent €169 billion in 2003 on cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to research from a team at the Health Economics Research Centre, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, England, just published on-line by the European Heart Journal.
Melatonin hormone controls the circadian rhythm. In periods of darkness, melatonin reduces cardiovascular activity and induces fatigue. Morning light inhibits melatonin secretion in the pineal gland, which increases cardiovascular activity.
Tissue engineering caused a stir at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Germany Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
Germany - Following positive results in numerous animal studies and the first human implantations of the Biontronik Absorbable Metal Stent (AMS) in below-the-knee arteries that confirmed device safety, at the end of July the first patients (worldwide) received AMS implants.
Germany - 0.7% of newborn babies need surgery for congenital heart defects (CHD) - i.e. around 5,000-6,000 children in every 700,000 born.
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).
Blood pressure (BP) screening, either alone or in combination with other cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol levels, does not determine a person's chance of having a heart attack or stroke, reports Professor Malcolm Law and colleagues at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in the Journal of Medical Screening.
Sildenafil, an active agent used in the impotence drug Viagra, has been administered to seven young mountaineers on an Everest expedition, to test its effect on the lungs. Seven other men on the expedition are receiving a placebo.
Europe - Every year, 4 million people die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Europe as a whole (as many as 800,000 of them under 65 years old) and, in the EU Member States, over 1.5 million people die annually from CVD.
A processing system said to pick up cardiac sounds and correlate these with any related abnormalities, e.g. valve defects, stenosis, fibrillation, septal defect, etc, has been developed by the US firm Biosignetics Corporation.