Ross procedure in adults
Ross procedure (pulmonary autograft for aortic position) was used for aortic valve disease initially in children and later in adults. The pulmonary valve along with part of the main pulmonary artery is taken and made into a neo-aortic root. Either a cryopreserved homograft or xenograft is placed in the pulmonary position. Sometimes a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) conduit is used in the pulmonary position. The advantage of the autograft in children is that it would grow in size as the child grows, unlike a prosthetic valve. A recent study has reported 90.7% ten year survival after Ross procedure in adults [1].
Dilated ao...
Source: Cardiophile MD - August 16, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis, MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Source Type: blogs
The FDA Shield - The Medtronic Infuse Case and the Latest Tango of Preemption Versus Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court will shortly decide whether it will hear a case that will have a significant impact on the life sciences and medical device industry, specifically on the issue of whether approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of medical devices for "single limited use" shields and otherwise immunizes manufacturers from product liability suits results from non-FDA approved uses
What is the Medtronic Infuse Case About?
In 2010, Patricia Caplinger underwent spinal surgery in which as part of the procedure, a "Medtronic bioengineered bone graft device … was inserted through the back."51 The surgery d...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 25, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 4th 2016
This study shows for the first time that increasing arterial stiffness is detrimental to the brain, and that increasing stiffness and brain injury begin in early middle life, before we commonly think of prevalent diseases such as atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease or stroke having an impact."
The study also noted that elevated arterial stiffness is the earliest manifestation of systolic hypertension. The large study involved approximately 1,900 diverse participants in the Framingham Heart Study, who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as arterial tonometry. The tests measured the force of art...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 3, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Towards Bioprinted Sections of Jawbone and Gum Tissue
Many groups are working to advance the state of the art in bioprinting, seeking to engineer simpler tissue structures using a printed scaffold and cells cultured from a patient tissue sample. This example is focused on dental reconstruction:
The team are using the latest 3D bioprinting to produce new, totally 'bespoke,' tissue engineered bone and gum that can be implanted into a patient's jawbone. The approach begins with a scan of the affected jaw, prior to the design of a replacement part using computer-assisted design. A specialised bioprinter, which is set at the correct physiological temperature (in order to avoid de...
Source: Fight Aging! - March 31, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
A Matter of Ethics and Policy in the Era of Regenerative Transplantation in the United States
by Macey L. Henderson and Brianna L Doby
Why do we need to care about the ethical development of health policies that impact research, donation, and transplantation in the United States? The story of Zion Harvey is a good place to start.
Zion lost all of his limbs to amputation from sepsis at the age of two. The infection that ravished his body and took his limbs also caused renal failure, resulting in a successful kidney transplant when he was 4 years old.… (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - August 17, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Macey Henderson Tags: Featured Posts Organ Transplant & Donation Pediatrics regenerative transplantation Vascularized Composite Allograft Source Type: blogs
Thymus Organoids Restore Immune Function in Mice
Researchers here demonstrate restoration of immune function in mice via transplant of tissue engineered thymus-like organoids, one of a number of lines of research that aims to restore thymic function to boost the aging immune system. A sizable part of the age-related decline of the adaptive immune system arises from a problem of supply: there are no longer enough naive T cells to mount an effective response to new threats.
Some potential approaches to solving this problem involve dealing with issues that reduce the naive T cell population, while others focus on increasing the supply of new T cells. The thymus plays a vit...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 10, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Aortic Stenosis
Aortic stenosis can be congenital or acquired. Congenital aortic stenosis is often secondary to degenerative changes in a bicuspid aortic valve. Calcific aortic stenosis of the elderly is related to dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis. Rheumatic fever is an important cause for aortic stenosis in the developing countries. Rheumatic aortic valve disease is often a combination of stenosis and regurgitation. Severe aortic stenosis causes left ventricular hypertrophy and angina pectoris as a result of coronary supply demand mismatch. When a person with severe aortic stenosis exercises, syncope can occur due to the fixity of cardia...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 23, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis, MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Aortic Regurgitation
Aortic regurgitation can occur due to damage to the aortic valve as well as due to dilatation of the aortic root so that aortic valve leaflets fail to coapt. The later condition occurs in annulo-aortic ectasia, often associated with Marfan syndrome. Aortic regurgitation due valvular damage can occur in rheumatic fever. A bicuspid aortic valve can also become regurgitant as age advances. In the yester years, tertiary syphilis was an important cause of aortic root dilatation and aortic regurgitation.
Aortic regurgitation is quantified in terms of regurgitant fraction,which is the fraction of left ventricular output that re...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 22, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis, MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: Echocardiogram Library Source Type: blogs
MOPS Bone and Cartilage Preservation System (VIDEO)
Bone and cartilage grafts harvested from donor tissue don’t survive for very long, with estimates that around 80% of tissue donated for joint repair is going to waste. Researchers at University of Missouri School of Medicine have now developed a new way to preserve such tissue for much longer than previously possible, doubling its lifetime and hopefully leading to a major reduction in the need for such tissue.
Currently, donor tissue is preserved in refrigerators, floating within a special solution that keeps it viable for about a month. The Missouri Osteochondral Allograft Preservation System (MOPS) uses a new sol...
Source: Medgadget - January 29, 2015 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: in the news... Source Type: blogs
A Scaffolding Approach to Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair
The use of scaffolding in regenerative medicine is becoming more sophisticated, with researchers developing a wider range of approaches that offer a variety of different structural characteristics. This allows for attempts to repair load bearing or supporting tissues such as ligaments and tendons:
Not only is the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) inelastic and prone to popping, it is incapable of healing itself, causing surgeons to rely on autografts for reconstruction. Most common is the bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) graft, in which the surgeon removes part of the patellar tendon to replace the damaged ACL. "BPTB autog...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 31, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
RICO: Offering Co-Pay Coupons Does Not Constitute A Racketeering “Enterprise,” Rules Federal Court
Pharmaceutical manufacturer co-payment coupons have come under a lot of scrutiny recently. HHS-OIG recently warned these coupons may violate the anti-kickback statute if they encourage the purchase of Medicare Part D drugs. Manufacturers seem to be safe, however, from co-pay challenges under RICO—the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act which was originally enacted to combat organized crime. Last week, a Federal Court judge dismissed an insurance company’s claim that they overpaid for drugs in which Abbott Laboratories and Abbvie allegedly committed mail and wire fraud by offering co-pay cou...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 14, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Delayed cardiac complications of radiotherapy
Radiation damages the vascular endothelium leading to accelerated coronary atherosclerosis. Due to improvement in radiotherapy techniques, radiation associated cardiac damage is lesser with modern techniques. Most cases occur in those who have undergone mediastinal radiation in a younger age for diseases like Hodgkins disease for which longer survival gives a chance for long term cardiac issue to manifest. Radiotherapy for breast cancer is another important cause of cardiac complications of radiotherapy. Radiation induced cardiac damage is enhanced with concomitant use of adriamycin based chemotherapy.
Important delayed c...
Source: Cardiophile MD - August 12, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
Case of the Week 297
A patient was noted to have rapidly increasing serum creatinine 4 months after receiving a renal allograft. A renal biopsy was performed, which revealed small oval/elongate objects within the renale tubules. (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE). A variety of stains and additional studies were performed:H&E, 200x H&E, 400x H&E, 1000x (note how tiny the structures inside the renal tubule cells are) The structures were partially acid fast (Ziehl Neelsen, 1000x) A Ryan's trichrome performed on tissue nicely highlighted the objects (1000x) A urine specimen stained with Ryan's trichrome a...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - March 24, 2014 Category: Pathologists Source Type: blogs
Medtronic Sued by 1,000 Infuse Patients
by John FauberMedtronic said about 1,000 people have sued the company over its bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) product, Infuse, and that many more lawsuits may be coming.In addition, several states now are looking into sales and marketing practices involving Infuse, which is used in spine surgery.In a statement, company spokesperson Cindy Resman said the cases are in early procedural stages, and none have resulted in a finding of liability against Medtronic.Some court rulings have led to dismissals and others have limited claims."Medtronic stands behind Infuse bone graft and will vigorously defend it in cour...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 5, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
