Article • Prenatal cardiology
Ultra-early ultrasound can detect foetal cardiac defects
Study shows a simplified examination can be performed routinely on low-risk populations during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Cardiology
Article • Perinatology
Diagnostics and treatment of congenital heart defects
Today, many congenital heart defects can be diagnosed in the unborn child – and even treated in utero. Monique Haak (46), gynaecologist-perinatologist and fetal surgeon at Leids University Medical Center (LUMC) in Leiden, The Netherlands, is an expert in the diagnosis and surgery of fetal heart defects.
News • Circulation
Can height increase risk for blood clots in veins?
The taller you are, the more likely you may be to develop blood clots in the veins, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics.
News • Cardiology
Is your walking pace a predictor of heart-related deaths?
A new study suggests that middle-aged people who report that they are slow walkers could be at higher risk of heart disease compared to the general population.
Sponsored • Emergency medicine
Streamlining management of cardiac arrest with the aid of point-of-care ultrasound
Point-of-care ultrasound plays an important role in the emergency sector, enabling hospital clinicians and paramedics responding to an urgent call for medical assistance to assess a patient’s condition. Dr Matthew Reed, an Emergency Medicine consultant at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, explained how ultrasound contributes to the management of cardiac arrest.
News • Health economics
Atrial fibrillation imposes a high burden in Europe
The first health economics data from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the Field – Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) was presented at ESC Congress 2017, organised by the European Society of Cardiology, in Barcelona, Spain.
Article • Radiation protection
Robotic assistants enter remote stenting
Shielding cardiologists from harmful radiation is the goal for two systems capable of navigating the vascular highway.
Article • New scan
Hyperpolarised MRI detects inflammation after heart attack
A new type of scan that can detect cardiac inflammation may help tailor treatment for patients who have suffered a heart attack, according to research findings presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) conference in June.
Article • Electrospinning
Renewing the promise of bioabsorbable implants
Electrospun materials bring a spark of hope to a cardiovascular landscape darkened by setbacks for reabsorbable stents. It was famously said that implanting a device in a person to cure a disease is to implant a new disease. Simply put, the human body will continually fight against foreign materials, leading to chronic inflammations or repeated interventions.
Article • Cardiology
Pulmonary valve placement via a child’s liver
A Spanish team has, for the first time, successfully placed a pulmonary valve using catheterisation through the hepatic vein in a paediatric patient. Specialists believe this type of intervention could become an interesting alternative when traditional access points are not available.
Article • Heart bypass surgery
New technique transforms veins into arteries
Scientists in the United Kingdom are investigating the potential of a new regenerative and tissue engineering technique that could transform veins into arteries to improve the outcomes for patients undergoing heart bypass surgery.
Article • Gender solidarity
EPIC support for women in electrophysiology and cardiology
An all-female satellite symposium during the Europace-Cardiostim Congress (EHRA 2017) in Vienna managed to turn quite a few heads. In the panel, the women discussed a very special alliance.
Article • Improved monitoring
Intelligent shirts ‘watch’ cardiac patients
A pioneering study has certified that wearable technology produced better results in monitoring cardiac patients and improving their quality of life compared to conventional systems.
Sponsored • Defibrillator or pacemaker?
Cardiac resynchronisation therapy improvements
Which CRT patients can be ‘downgraded’ from a CRT-D device with defibrillator function to a CRT-P with just a pacemaker function? This, with two further current CRT issues – chronotropic incompetence and telemonitoring of CRT patients – featured prominently at the Europace-Cardiostim Congress in Vienna.
Article • Cardiology
‘The future belongs to the heart team’
A formerly bitter competition between cardiology and cardiac surgery is increasingly replaced by constructive cooperation. The Austrian Society of Cardiology (ÖKG) even held its annual congress along with the Austrian Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery this year.
Article • Telemonitoring
Driving the mhealth market for many years to come
Over seven million people were using remote monitoring in 2016, mainly for cardiac rhythm management (CRM) and sleep apnoea therapy. The number of users will soar as they can increasingly connect to servers and clouds, Swedish analyst Anders Frick predicts.
Article • Progress and potential
Digital data: Cardiologists must keep up
Leading cardiologist and healthcare researcher Professor Harlan Krumholz has warned that medical practitioners must embrace the potential of digital data generated by patients if they are to avoid being left behind as the digital revolution moves forward at an ever-advancing pace
Article • Evolution of a field
Will software steal the heart of cardiology?
Celebrating 40 years of PCI, cardiologists fret over their future with big data, machine learning and robots.
Article • 40th anniversary
Angioplasty - the technique that revolutionised cardiology
Coronary angioplasty is arguably the most revolutionary breakthrough in the history of cardiology. While the technique is today performed on millions of patients worldwide, its origins can be traced back to Zurich, Switzerland, in the late 1970s.
Article • ESC Congress 2017
Entering the future of cardiology
With 4,500 accepted abstracts, 600 sessions and 30,000 expected attendees, ESC Congress 2017 is undoubtedly the world’s largest cardiovascular event. On healthcare-in-europe.com, Dr Stephan Achenbach, Congress Program Committee Chairperson, gives an overview of issues and events unfolding in Barcelona from August 26-30.
News • Cardiovascular diseases
Repairing damaged hearts with self-healing heart cells
Researchers discover a new molecule, ‘Singheart’, that may hold the key to triggering the regeneration and repair of damaged heart cells.
News • Young at heart
Cardiac stem cells from young hearts could rejuvenate old hearts
Cardiac stem cell infusions could someday help reverse the aging process in the human heart, making older ones behave younger, according to a new study from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
Article • Home monitoring
Success for pacemaker recipients
Biotronik’s Home Monitoring is an award-winning remote cardiac monitoring system that automatically collects data from a patient’s cardiac device, enabling the physician to review cardiac function independently of in-office visits.
Article • Extreme environments
Cardiology in outer space and Polar Regions
Cardiology in extreme environments takes centre stage at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) annual conference.
News • Children's cardiology
Monitoring the hearts of the sports stars of the future
Professionals in the field of children’s cardiology will hold their world congress in FCB’s Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain from the 16th to the 21st of July 2017. As part of the congress and for the first time, a special symposium will unite leading experts in the field of sports cardiology to discuss the heart health of the sports stars of the future.