News • Imaging
4D flow MRI scans to help patients with heart disease
A cutting-edge imaging technique that creates 4D flow images of the heart has been carried out for the first time in the UK at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH).
Cardiology
News • In different medical fields
Women and men are each underrepresented in clinical trials
A study showed that women are underrepresented in oncology, neurology, immunology, cardiology, hematology; whereas men underrepresented in trials related to mental health, musculoskeletal disease and trauma, and preventive care.
Article • Gender bias
Sex-specific guidelines for cardiovascular diseases
Women are missing out on appropriate cardiac care because guidelines and medications often fail to take into account gender and conditions that specifically affect the female population. Women are also underrepresented in clinical trials for new cardiac therapies.
News • Covid-19 variants
AI detects life-threatening blood vessel inflammation
New artificial intelligence (AI) technology to scan for heightened blood vessel inflammation can calculate a person’s risk of death from Covid-19 and its variants.
News • Acute aortic syndrome
Blood test could detect life-threatening aortic tears
A simple blood test could help doctors spot deadly damage to the aorta, the body’s largest blood vessel, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) presented at the British Cardiovascular Society conference.
News • Heart regeneration treatments
Injectable microspheres to repair failing hearts
Researchers funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have developed biodegradable microspheres that can be used to deliver heart cells generated from stem cells to repair damaged hearts after a heart attack, in research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society conference.
News • Promising protein "MARK4"
Switching off heart protein could protect against heart failure
Switching off a heart muscle protein could provide a new way for drugs to combat heart failure in people who’ve had a heart attack, according to research led by the University of Cambridge and published in the journal Nature. There is an unmet need to find drugs that can successfully improve the heart’s ability to pump blood efficiently after it’s been damaged following a heart attack.…
News • Disease of smallest heart blood vessels
Microvascular angina: the global health problem you've never heard of
For the first time, a prospective, international study has shown that chest pain caused by problems with the very small vessels supplying blood to the heart is an important health problem that increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke and death due to cardiovascular reasons. The study, which is published in the European Heart Journal, recruited 686 patients from 14 institutions in seven…
News • Cardiology
On the way to better analysis of paediatric ECGs
Physicians are increasingly using software to automatically evaluate Holter ECG signals in adult patients, but so far, no software has been developed for children. Cardiomatics and the Medical University of Warsaw are on the way to a breakthrough in paediatric cardiology. They are developing an international tool for automatic assessment, analysis, and interpretation of electrocardiographic…
News • Combining common risk factors
Deep learning enables dual screening for cancer and CVD
Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death in the United States, and it’s increasingly understood that they share common risk factors, including tobacco use, diet, blood pressure, and obesity. Thus, a diagnostic tool that could screen for cardiovascular disease while a patient is already being screened for cancer has the potential to expedite a diagnosis, accelerate treatment, and…
News • Heartbeat in a dish
"Cardioids" hold great promise for heart disease research
Self-organizing heart organoids – developed at the Austrian Academy of Sciences – are also effective injury- and in vitro congenital disease models. These “cardioids” may revolutionize research into cardiovascular disorders and malformations of the heart. The results are published in the journal Cell.
News • Cardiology & urbanisation
Health and the city: how urban design can promote heart health
Cities harbour a dangerous cocktail of environmental stressors which politicians must tackle to save lives and preserve health. That’s the conclusion of a paper published in European Heart Journal, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). “By 2050, three in four people will live in cities, where up to 80% of energy is consumed and 70% of greenhouse gases are emitted,” said…
Article • Cardiac care to go
Wearables in cardiology: from activity monitoring to research support
Activity monitors via phones and bracelets help to assess exercise but experts question which device may really stimulate activity in cardiovascular patients, and which might be best for research?
News • New cardiology approach
Super saturated oxygen therapy reduces consequences of heart attack
In Germany, more than 200,000 people suffer a heart attack every year. Despite good medical care, many are left with reduced cardiac output. This is particularly true for patients with severe heart attacks: more than 30 percent of those affected develop heart failure, and almost half of them die within the next five years. Experts at the Department of Cardiology and Angiology at Hannover Medical…
News • AI in cardiology
Machine learning accurately predicts cardiac arrest risk
A branch of artificial intelligence (AI), called machine learning, can accurately predict the risk of an out of hospital cardiac arrest--when the heart suddenly stops beating--using a combination of timing and weather data, finds research published online in the journal Heart. Machine learning is the study of computer algorithms, and based on the idea that systems can learn from data and identify…
News • Vital imaging
Study: contrast MRI after a heart attack could increase survival
A new study from the University of Surrey and University College London has revealed that treatment for heart attacks could be improved thanks to a novel method of evaluating heart function using contrast-based MRI scans. According to the British Heart Foundation, heart and circulatory diseases cause more than a quarter (27 per cent) of all deaths in the UK, which equates to more than 160,000…
Article • LVAD patients monitoring
5G and AI: Telemedicine support for chronic heart failure patients
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).
Article • Gender Medicine
“Inclusion of women in studies and guidelines must be increased”
Women and men are different – nobody would argue with this statement. However, in medicine, gender plays a subordinate role. Neither research, prevention nor therapy adequately reflect this difference. “This is no longer acceptable,” says internist and cardiologist Prof. Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek.
News • Intervention premiere
First robotic PCI performed in Belgium
Medical robotics company Robocath announces the successful completion of first five robotic coronary angioplasties in Belgium. The Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) were performed on April 8 and 13 by Prof. Stefan Verheye, a recognized and highly experienced interventional cardiologist at ZNA Middelheim hospital in Antwerp, and his team. Robotic-assisted PCI has never been done before in…
News • Omega-3 and cardiac health
Cardiologists link fish oil supplements with heart rhythm disorder
Omega-3 supplements are associated with an increased likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation in people with high blood lipids. That’s the finding of a study published in European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
News • Merging modalities
AI combines ECG and X-ray to diagnose arrhythmic disorders
Kobe University Hospital’s Dr. Makoto Nishimori and Project Assistant Professor Kunihiko Kiuchi et al. (of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine) have developed an AI that uses multiple kinds of test data to predict the location of surplus pathways in the heart called ‘accessory pathways’, which cause the heart to beat irregularly. In this study, the…
News • Prognosis
Better heart failure outcomes through biomarker-based treatment
In a recent study by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers, findings indicate that among patients with heart failure, obesity is associated with a higher risk of heart failure hospitalization or death due to cardiac causes. However, achieving biomarker-based treatment goals in heart failure improves the prognosis for patients irrespective of their obesity status.
Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) System
FDA approval for implant to treat congenital heart disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first in the world non-surgical heart valve to treat pediatric and adult patients with a native or surgically-repaired right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT). The device, called the Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) System, is intended to improve blood flow to the lungs in patients with severe pulmonary valve regurgitation without…
News • Venous cannula system
New circulation implant to bridge the waiting time for donor heart
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…
Article • Covid-19 collaterals
Coronavirus impacts heart surgery across Europe
Cardiac surgery across Europe is being set back as a result of the ongoing coronavirus. Operations are being postponed, treatment delayed, and critical care staff have been redeployed to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on health services. However, gaining a clear picture of the Europe-wide situation, and the long-term effects coronavirus will have on heart surgery, is a challenge…