Left atrial appendage closure devices
Anticoagulation for prevention of stroke is a well established modality of treatment in atrial fibrillation. But a significant number of them have bleeding complications. Hence the option of left atrial appendage closure with multiple types of devices have been developed. Left atrial appendage with its sluggish flow is the most common location for thrombus formation in atrial fibrillation.
Following devices have been used with varying success:
Watchman
Amplatzer Cardiac Plug/Amulet
Lariat suture ligation
Atriclip
PROTECT-AF (Watchman Left Atrial Appendage System for Embolic Protection in Patients With Atrial Fibrillatio...
Source: Cardiophile MD - April 15, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
How does cardiovascular disease increase the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19?
Based on reports from China, we know that most COVID-19 patients (about 80%) will develop mild flulike symptoms, including fever, dry cough, and body aches that can be managed at home. 20% will develop more serious symptoms, such as pneumonia requiring hospitalization, with about a quarter of these requiring ICU-level care.
Initial reports focused on the respiratory effects of COVID-19, such as pneumonia and difficulty breathing. But more recent literature has described serious cardiovascular complications occurring in about 10% to 20% of hospitalized patients.
Someone with pre-existing heart disease who becomes ill with C...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 2, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Dara K. Lee Lewis, MD Tags: Health Heart Health Hypertension and Stroke Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs
Respirix for Non-Invasive Cardiopulmonary Monitoring: Interview with CEO Eric Kriegstein
For patients with cardiopulmonary illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD or congestive heart failure (CHF), few technologies exist to effectively monitor and manage their conditions in a convenient way. Pulmonary artery catheters and implants, that can help with monitoring, have successfully reduced heart failure hospitalizations, but these implants are highly invasive and costly.
Respirix is developing a non-invasive device that aims to detect CHF decompensation and COPD exacerbation before patients experience symptoms. Cardiospire works by mining non-invasive physiological data gathered from wh...
Source: Medgadget - March 17, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Cici Zhou Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Exclusive Medicine Telemedicine Source Type: blogs
Insulin Resistance: the silent killer that you can completely reverse – even if your doctor doesn ’ t know how
You may have already heard the term “insulin resistance,” as it has been widely discussed by doctors and the media. But did you know that you can reduce or reverse it in the vast majority of people?
Insulin resistance, i.e., the inability of the body’s cells, especially liver, muscle, and brain, to respond to insulin and allow blood sugar to enter cells, drives numerous abnormal health conditions including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, fatty liver, Alzheimer’s dementia, and cancer. It is therefore a driving force behind so many modern and common chronic health conditions.
Yo...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - March 12, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Open can belly fat can insulin resistance be reversed lose weight reduce belly fat reverse inflammation visceral fat wheat belly Source Type: blogs
New Onset Heart Failure and Frequent Prolonged SVT. What is it? Management?
This middle-aged man with no cardiac history but with significant history of methamphetamin and alcohol use presented with chest pain and SOB, worsening over days, with orthopnea.BP:143/99, Pulse 109, Temp 37.2 °C (99 °F), Resp (!) 32, SpO2 95%On exam, he was tachypneic and had bibasilar crackles.Here was his ED ECG:There is sinus tachycardia (rate about 114) with nonspecific ST-T abnormalities.There is a large peaked P-wave in lead II (right atrial enlargement)There is left axis deviation consistent with left anterior fascicular block.There are nonspecific ST-T abnormalities.There is no evidence of infarction or ischemi...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - March 5, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Paracentesis: The Procedure
Discussion: The Z-track method minimizes fluid leakage from the puncture site. Injecting medication into the skin using this method is important to preventing post-procedure leaking. Once a needle has entered subcutaneous tissue and muscle, it opens a track that may not reseal immediately. There are also studies suggesting that Z tracks may reduce pain during injection. We suggest using the method during your paracentesis procedure.Z tracks are used for all kinds of intramuscular injections and can be applied to other sites on the body. Pull and press the skin and tissue 2 cm caudad to the deep abdominal wall and inser...
Source: The Procedural Pause - March 3, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
It ’s My Right: The Handmade Death of Herta Sturmann (VSED Video)
Watch this 25-minute film of a patient who does VSED.
"My mother had congestive heart failure and decided not to submit herself to the indignities of medical intervention. When she got too weak to get out of bed, she decided to stop eating and drinking (in German it’s called Sterbefasten or Death Fast, in the US it’s called VSED – Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking)."
"My outspoken mother insisted I film our family as we navigated this fraught process together. My brother and I cared for her round the clock during the ten days it took her to die at home. We then washed her body, set her hair, and, f...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - February 17, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, February 17th 2020
Discussion of the Evolutionary Genetics of Aging
Thymic Involution Contributes to Immunosenescence and Inflammaging
The Potential for Exosome Therapies to Treat Sarcopenia
Correlations of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number and Epigenetic Age Measures
Evidence for PASK Deficiency to Reduce the Impact of Aging in Mice
The Aging Retina, a Mirror of the Aging Brain
Evidence for Loss of Capillary Density to be Important in Heart Disease
Aspects of Immune System Aging Proceed More Rapidly in Men
Deacetylation of the NLRP3 Inflammasome as a Way to Control Chronic Inflammation
Transplantation of Senescent Cel...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 16, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Prospects for Telomerase Gene Therapy as a Treatment for Heart Disease
Telomerase gene therapy is considered in some quarters to be a viable treatment for aging. Telomeres are the caps of repeated DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes. They are an important part of the mechanism limiting the number of times that somatic cells in the body can divide, the Hayflick limit. A little telomere length is lost with each cell division, and short telomeres trigger cellular senescence or programmed cell death, halting replication. Stem cell populations use telomerase to lengthen their telomeres and thus self-renew to provide a continual supply of new somatic daughter cells with long telomeres to repla...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 12, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Top Artificial Intelligence Companies in Healthcare to Keep an Eye On
The field of medical AI is buzzing. More and more companies set the purpose to disrupt healthcare with the help of artificial intelligence. Given how fast these companies come and go, it can prove to be hard to stay up-to-date with the most promising ones. Here, I collected the biggest names currently on the market ranging from start-ups to tech giants to keep an eye on in the future.
To further help you keep up with what A.I. brings to medicine, The Medical Futurist team made an easy-to-digest e-book about just that. I highly encourage you to read it and would love to hear about your thoughts!
Artificial Intelligence has ...
Source: The Medical Futurist - January 21, 2020 Category: Information Technology Authors: berci.mesko Tags: Artificial Intelligence Healthcare Design AI digital health genetics Innovation Personalized medicine pharma GC1 big data drug development healthcare companies medical imaging Source Type: blogs
Pulmonary Artery Pulsatility Index
Pulmonary Artery Pulsatility Index (PAPI) is a recently described hemodynamic index, which has been used to predict right ventricular failure in those with inferior wall infarction and in those who have been implanted with left ventricular assist device (LVAD). It is also useful to assess the need for biventricular Impella (Bipella) support in those with cardiogenic shock on the mechanical circulatory support device Impella for the left ventricle [1].
Pulmonary artery pulsatility index (PAPI) = (systolic pulmonary arterial pressure − diastolic pulmonary pressure)/right atrial pressure.
This is the pulmonary arterial pul...
Source: Cardiophile MD - January 2, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
A 41 year old with chest pain and a Nondiagnostic Triage ECG. Thrombolytics prior to transfer for PCI.
Conclusion:Transfer for PCI without thrombolytics is best if PCI at receiving facility can be done in less than 120 minutes from first medical contact, or less than 90 minutes from STEMI diagnosis in first ED.Thrombolytics prior to Transfer to a PCI capable facility, then rescue PCI if no reperfusion for STEMITRANSFER AMI(Cantor et al. 2009).High risk STEMI: BP less than 100, HR greater than 100 Killip class II, III, ST depression of at least 2 mm in precordial leads, ST elevation in right precordial leads (right ventricular MIAll patients get TNK-tPA.80-90% received clopidogrel 300 mg (75 mg for age over...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - November 7, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Intensive blood sugar control doesn ’t have lasting cardiovascular benefits for those with diabetes
In 2009, the New England Journal of Medicine published results from the Veterans Affairs Diabetes Trial (VADT). The study found that intensive glucose (blood sugar) control in older men with longstanding type 2 diabetes did not significantly reduce their risk of major cardiovascular (CV) events, including heart attack, stroke, and death from CV causes, compared with standard blood sugar control.
Researchers recently reported 15-year follow-up results from VADT. They found that intensive blood sugar control did not exert any “legacy effect”: the intensive blood sugar control group did not enjoy CV benefits 15 years afte...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - September 23, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Medha Munshi, MD Tags: Diabetes Heart Health Source Type: blogs
When Is It Okay to Lie About Death?
This week, I sat, enthralled in a darkened movie theater watching a story unfold. Before the first scene, the line, “Based on an actual lie,” ran across the screen. The film is called The Farewell and is the story of the lung cancer diagnosis of the filmmaker’s grandmother. Lulu Wang is the director for whom art imitates life. Her alter ego is Billi, played by the actress and rapper Akwafina. Billi adores her Nai Nai (Chinese for grandmother), who assisted in raising her when her parents immigrated to the U.S. when she was a child. She discovers that her grandmother was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer and the fa...
Source: World of Psychology - September 15, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW Tags: Grief and Loss Health-related Bereavement grieving Source Type: blogs
A patient ’s family bridges two worlds
Toward the end of my clinical rotations, I met Salma, a 34-year-old woman who came from Egypt with her family to the U.S. two years ago. Wearing a latte-colored hijab, she was here at the hospital to care for her father, who had a case of congestive heart failure exacerbation with pleural effusions. When deoxygenated […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 25, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/ton-la-jr" rel="tag" > Ton La, Jr. < /a > < /span > Tags: Education Hospital-Based Medicine Source Type: blogs
