2011 brought a second year for European and US scientists to meet up at the Annual Scientific Symposium on Ultra High Field Magnetic Resonance, held at the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch (MDC), Germany, to present and discuss their recent findings. Along with technical improvements, the main issues of the one-day gathering were cardiac, cerebral and molecular MR imaging.…
Royal Philips Electronics provided clinicians from across the globe with a glimpse of future innovations designed to advance cardiac care, including the current management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated cardiac conditions, during the 2011 Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Siemens Healthcare presented solutions for sustainable cardiovascular care at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress in Paris, France, under the motto "Are you ready for the long run?". This includes all modern imaging technologies, in-vitro diagnostics, IT solutions and consulting services.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in industrial nations. More than 50 percent of those deaths are associated with pathologies of the coronary arteries, despite the fact that luminal obstructions that lead to myocardial infarction or ischemia do not occur out of the blue. The initial symptoms are preceded by a whole slew of arteriosclerosis stages and the early detection of…
‘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…
Research introduced at SNM’s 58th Annual Meeting may lead to much-needed cardiovascular disease screening for diabetic patients at risk of ischemic heart disease, a disorder marked by significantly reduced blood flow in the heart. Ischemia of the myocardium, or cardiac muscle, can signal diminished oxygenation of the heart tissue and trigger a heart attack if left untreated.
Scientists of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have developed a highly efficient approach for imaging the beating human heart. The images produced in one of the world's most powerful MRI systems whose power is equivalent to 150.000 times the earth’s magnetic field are of a much higher detail than cardiac images…
Pushing the power of scanners creates new world for imaging, but whilst high-field magnets bring new capabilities they also pose new challenges for clinicians. John Brosky reports
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 …
A cardiologist at a UK hospital has become the first in the world to develop a technique to ‘slice’ 3-D images of the heart into intricate sections using computer software. The method, devised by consultant congenital cardiologist Dr Joseph Vettukattil at Southampton General Hospital, is known as multiplane review (MPR) 3-D echocardiography. This allows cardiologists to identify heart defects…
Cardiologist, nuclear medicine specialist and researcher Dr Alessia Gimelli works for the Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio, National Research Council in Pisa, Italy. For the past year she has used Discovery NM 530c, GE’s latest Nuclear Cardiology platform, featuring an innovative CZT collimation technology called Alcyone Technology.
During the 2010 ESC meeting, held in Stockholm, new guidelines for myocardial revascularisation were handed down by a prestigious Task Force made up of representatives of both the ESC and the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons (EACTS).
Developed in partnership with international cardiologists, Medison reports that its EKO7 Cardiovascular Ultrasound system is a dedicated Cardiovascular Ultrasound system ‘…with 2-D Image Quality that you would expect from a premium class ultrasound system. As a matter of fact, the same applies to the colour Doppler, Pulsed Wave Doppler and CWD. So the EKO7 has excellent image quality, a…
After years of go-slow adoption and cautious optimism, European cardiologists are now embracing remote monitoring of cardiac electrophysiology devices. ‘We are at the dawn of a new era,’ concluded Dr Philippe Ritter, Chairman of the Cardiostim 2010 congress, after reviewing findings of studies that delivered unequivocal evidence that remote monitoring is not only a safe alternative to clinic…
No white lab coats anywhere; instead men in hard hats, equipped with hammers and drills. The Düsseldorf University Hospital’s Cardiology Pneumology and Angiology Clinic is a construction site, but once the workmen have packed up their tools and removed the scaffolding the view to the human heart will be unobstructed and clearer than ever before. Here, innovative patient care and a highly…
Ongoing technical developments in computed tomography (CT) such as dual source CT have established coronary CT angiography (cCTA) as a robust non-invasive imaging test for the assessment of coronary artery disease. The most important advantage of cCTA over conventional catheter-based coronary angiography is that not only the coronary lumen but also the entire coronary artery wall is visualized…
New imaging technologies are opening a new chapter in interventional cardiology by offering something this widely practiced procedure has been missing -- vivid clinical evidence to assess effectiveness. Interventional cardiology has moved rapidly from opening blocked arteries by crushing plaque with inflatable balloons to reinforcing the walls of the re-opened arteries with flexible metal stents…
The focus on Coronary artery disease – from genes to outcomes at ESC 2010 underlines the importance of CAD diagnosis on the scientific agenda. During the session ‘Multi modality imaging to detect coronary artery disease’, chaired by Professor JJ Bax, of the Cardiology Department at Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands, experts will discuss, for example, the advantages of the…
At ESC, Siemens presents a new image processing software that helps cardiologists and cardiac surgeons prepare and perform transcatheter aortic valve implantations (TAVI): Syngo Aortic ValveGuide automatically reconstructs a 3D representation of the aortic root from CT-like cross-sectional images acquired with the angiography system.
To make today’s cardiac CT examinations even safer, Toshiba introduces new, revolutionary “Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction (AIDR)” technology that lowers the radiation dose to the patient by up to 75% compared to conventional scanners.
Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, announces today that it has signed an agreement with TomTec, active in the sector of echocardiography image analysis, reporting and data management, for the integration of its Image-Arena solution into the company's IMPAX Cardiovascular Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). TomTec offers a wide…
Not only is heart failure one of the single biggest causes of morbidity and mortality in man, but the incidence of the condition is steadily increasing. Rising to this challenge, innovative medical diagnostic techniques with ever greater performance are constantly being introduced so that early, unambiguous detection of the underlying condition is now possible, enabling the prompt initiation of…
In Switzerland, they say, the clocks tick a little slower than elsewhere in the world. Not at Schiller AG in Baar, however: The company remains forever ahead of the times. Since 1971, physicist Alfred E Schiller, the company’s founder and managing director, has successfully shown competitors in the tough intensive and emergency care market what innovative progress really means.
The identification of cardiometabolic risk is one of the most frequently performed standard examinations, which many European health insurers even require for patients of a certain age. Up to now, physicians had to calculate the value manually on the basis of certain parameters – a time-consuming task. Seca, which specialises in medical scales, now offers 360° wireless, which not only measures…