Police save lives every day, just not this way — a liver for Sloan
Sloane and Lt. Tenney
A police officer’s job is all about action and reaction.
“We see something, react to it and, typically, it’s over quickly,” says Lt. Steve Tenney of the Keene, New Hampshire, Police Department.
But on the morning of Sept. 8, while Steve lay in a hospital bed at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, action/reaction wasn’t part of the equation. This time, there was time to think. Even so, the decision to donate a piece of his liver to save Sloan — a baby he’d never even met — was made without hesitation.
“I did what anyone would have done,” he says.
Sloan ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - November 8, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Emily Williams Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories biliary atresia Dr. Christine Lee Dr. Heung-Bae Kim Dr. Khashavar Vakili Liver transplant Liver Transplant Program living donor Source Type: news
Fetal care team heals baby boy
The Fetal Care Center, a partnership between Yale Medicine and Yale New Haven Children ' s Hospital, developed a plan to cure the baby ' s esophageal atresia. (Source: Yale Science and Health News)
Source: Yale Science and Health News - October 16, 2017 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Cook Medical recalls select Zenith Alpha endo grafts
The FDA today released information on a recall of Cook Medical’s Zenith Alpha thoracic endovascular graft designed for treating blunt traumatic aortic injury over issues with thrombus formation, classifying the recall as Class I.
Class I recall designations, the FDA’s most serious classification of recall, are used when there is a reasonable probability that product use could cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
The Zenith Alpha thoracic endovascular graft is designed to treat isolated lesions in main blood vessels that carry blood from the heart through the chest into the abdomen, and is used in patient...
Source: Mass Device - August 16, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Fink Densford Tags: Recalls Vascular Cook Medical Source Type: news
A biventricular repair for Jayce ’s one-of-a-kind heart
Amanda Mattioli was working in Afghanistan as a government contractor and had just completed a whirlwind round of travel to three separate continents when she learned she was pregnant.
The helicopter unit that took her back to the main base so she could return home for her pregnancy gave her a unit sticker to commemorate her baby’s first helicopter ride. Little did she know it would also mark the beginning of a much longer journey for her and her son, William “Jayce” James.
Amanda got her first hint the ride would be bumpy at her 20-week ultrasound, when she learned Jayce’s heart was on the right side of his chest,...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - August 14, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Ellen Greenlaw Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories atrioventricular canal Biventricular Repair Biventricular Repair Program Dr. Gerald Marx Dr. Pedro del Nido Heterotaxy syndrome Pulmonary atresia transposition of the great arteries Source Type: news
Nathaniel ’s heart: One for the record books
As 3-year-old Nathaniel Wesley nervously watched the big machine move toward his chest, he spotted a familiar face: It was the cartoon character Barney — in sticker form. “Give Barney a kiss!” his parents urged, and he smiled at the friendly purple dinosaur while the scanner took images of blood flow in his lungs.
Now 11, Nathaniel is no stranger to doctors, nurses or hospitals. Born with tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia — a severe congenital heart defect — he’s been a frequent visitor to the Heart Center at Boston Children’s Hospital for the past eight years. In this disorder, the heart and its val...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - July 19, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Jessica Cerretani Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program Dr. David Brown Dr. Janice Ware Dr. John Mayer Dr. Naomi Gauthier Heart Center tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia Source Type: news
An ocean away: Care for laryngeal cleft brings Clara to Boston
My husband, Duncan, and I were living in London, England, when Clara was born. Although my pregnancy had started out like any other, I later developed severe polyhydramnios, an accumulation of amniotic fluid that can sometimes indicate the presence of certain congenital issues.
After I delivered, it became clear that Clara had a congenital condition called esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF). This condition meant that her esophagus (the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach) hadn’t developed properly and didn’t connect to her stomach, but that her esophagus and windpipe were improp...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - July 11, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Natascha Kiernan Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories Center for Airway Disorders Dr. Reza Rahbar laryngeal cleft Source Type: news
Real Stories Of Americans Who Will Be Affected By The Proposed Changes To The ACA — And What YOU Can Do To Fight
With the proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 20 million Americans are at risk of losing their health care coverage.
A survey, conducted by Brunswick Partners, found that “75 percent of Americans agree that the proposed changes to Medicaid in the AHCA are a bad idea. And that we should not allow 14 million Americans to become uninsured even if there is a potential to reduce Medicaid spending. These results are significant because they find majorities of Americans identifying as conservatives (55 percent), moderates (82 percent) and liberals (90 percent) are opposed to the AHCA’s Medicaid pro...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - June 21, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Miles to go: From Mississippi to Boston for life-saving care
Whether he’s riding with his family on their all-terrain vehicle (ATV) at home in Mississippi, learning how to fish or playing with his cousins, Ethan Claborn is happiest when he’s outdoors. Simple things like a blade of grass or drop of rain are even more special for this almost four-year-old, considering he spent the first year of his life within hospital walls.
Ethan’s parents, Holly and Gary, knew even before he was born that he would face several health challenges. But it still felt like a shock when, not long after birth, he was rushed into surgery to treat an intestinal blockage. Diagnosed with ileal atresia, ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - June 16, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Jessica Cerretani Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation Dr. Biren Modi Dr. Mark Puder ileal atresia Omegaven total parenteral nutrition Source Type: news
Sharing biliary atresia — and strength to beat it
Everywhere Melissa Villaseñor goes her little sister, Isabella, follows.
The 6- and 2-year-olds share just about everything. They share big personalities. They share a love of being lively and loud. And, they also share something else — they were both born with biliary atresia.
“I am not going to lie,” says Andrea Torre, the girls’ mom. “I sometimes break down and cry and ask myself, ‘Why me?’”
Biliary atresia is a chronic, progressive liver condition that is fatal if left untreated. For most parents, having just one child with this rare, life-threatening disease is overwhelming.
“My husband keeps me...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - June 14, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Emily Williams Tags: Our Patients’ Stories biliary atresia Dr. Heung-Bae Kim Dr. Khashavar Vakili Liver transplant Liver Transplant Program Pediatric Transplant Center (PTC) Source Type: news
FDA approval granted to pediatric device used to treat esophageal birth defect
(University of Chicago Medical Center) The US Food and Drug Administration has granted authorization for a magnetic device used to treat pediatric esophageal atresia, a birth defect that causes abnormal formation of the esophagus. The Flourish Pediatric Esophageal Atresia device was created by University of Chicago Medicine assistant professor of radiology Mario Zaritzky, MD, in collaboration with Cook Medical. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - May 25, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
MassDevice.com +5 | The top 5 medtech stories for May 15, 2017
Say hello to MassDevice +5, a bite-sized view of the top five medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 5 biggest and most influential stories from the day’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.
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5. HRS 2017 Roundup: Study pinpoints battery issue in Abbott’s Nanostim leadless pacer
A study of the Nanostim leadless pacemaker Abbott acquired this year when it bought St. Jude Medical, presented last week at the annual Heart...
Source: Mass Device - May 15, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: MassDevice Tags: News Well Plus 5 Source Type: news
Cook Medical wins FDA nod for Flourish pediatric surgery device
Cook Medical won FDA approval for its Flourish pediatric esophageal atresia anastomosis device, which is designed to treat infants with a birth defect that causes a gap in the esophagus.
Babies born with esophageal atresia cannot feed normally and need a feeding tube until surgery is performed to attach the esophagus to the stomach.
The device, which is the 1st of its kind, uses magnets to pull the upper and lower esophagus together, closing the gap. It is not indicated for use in infants who have an abnormal connection between the esophagus and windpipe, also known as a tracheoesophageal fistula.
“This new device pr...
Source: Mass Device - May 15, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Sarah Faulkner Tags: Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Regulatory/Compliance Surgical Wall Street Beat Cook Medical Source Type: news
New Device Approved for Esophageal Birth Defect
MONDAY, May 15, 2017 -- A new medical device has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat esophageal atresia, a birth defect that causes a gap between the esophagus and stomach.
One of 2,500 babies in the United States is... (Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews)
Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews - May 15, 2017 Category: General Medicine Source Type: news
Experience Journal: From Venezuela for the chance to live
At five months old, Diana was diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, a congenital heart defect (CHD) that couldn’t be treated in her home country of Venezuela. “Being told that your child has no chance of surviving is devastating,” says Diana’s mom, Alejandra. “We were given no hope.”
Research into where in the world Diana would receive the best treatment led her parents to the Heart Center at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Throughout Diana’s journey to health, Alejandra relied on support from her husband, her sisters and the community she found in Bost...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - May 13, 2017 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Jenny Fernandez Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories congenital heart defect Dr. Pedro del Nido Experience Journal Heart Center Source Type: news
FDA Clears First-of-Its-Kind Device for Esophageal Atresia FDA Clears First-of-Its-Kind Device for Esophageal Atresia
The Flourish Pediatric Esophageal Atresia Anastomosis device uses magnets to pull the upper and lower esophagus together, closing the gap and allowing food to enter the stomach.FDA Approvals (Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines)
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines - May 12, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pediatrics News Alert Source Type: news
