Computer Simulations Help Grow Custom Replacement Cultured Heart Valves
Prosthetic heart valve implantations have become common in modern hospitals, but these devices are still far from perfect. Issues with longevity, calcification, and maintenance of a good fit over many years following placement are some of the existing concerns. An entirely different approach, which involves growing new valves from cultured human cells, may overcome many current limitations.
Toward that end, researchers at University of Zurich, the Technical University Eindhoven, and the Charité Berlin, have developed computer simulations that help to predict how cultured valves will establish themselves, grow, and eventua...
Source: Medgadget - May 10, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Informatics Materials Source Type: blogs
Interview with Tal Golesworthy, Inventor of the ExoVasc Aortic Root Support
Tal Golesworthy is the inventor of the ExoVasc, a bespoke implant that supports the aortic root when it has becomes weak and dilated. Tal’s invention was born out of his personal need for the device to support his aorta that was expanding dangerously due to Marfan syndrome. In 2004, Tal was the first patient to be implanted with the device that he invented, and many more patients have benefited from the ExoVasc Aortic Root Support since.
Medgadget editor Tom Peach spoke with Tal Golesworthy to hear about the inspiring journey that gave birth to the ExoVasc and to learn more about Exstent, the company that was formed as a...
Source: Medgadget - April 10, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tom Peach Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Exclusive Source Type: blogs
FDA Approves Smallest Heart Valve: Small Enough for Newborns
The world’s smallest prosthetic heart valve has been approved by the FDA, allowing even newborns to benefit from a replacement that was designed to match their anatomy. The Masters HP 15mm rotatable mechanical heart valve from Abbott can be used to replace either mitral or aortic valves that are not good candidates for repair procedures.
The valve is now available in sizes between 15mm and 27mm, as larger sizes have been approved since 1995. It features two pyrolytic carbon leaflets, an 85 degree opening angle that promotes blood flow while reducing turbulence, and a way to rotate the device during implantation to ...
Source: Medgadget - March 7, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
Patient Aortas Printed in 3D to Test How Replacement Valves Will Work
Implanting prosthetic heart valves is a challenge requiring careful matching of the implanted device to the patient anatomy, as well as placing the implant so that there are no leaks, hemodynamic occlusions, nor a configuration that promotes clot formation. While this is relatively manageable when performing open heart valve replacements, using transcatheter valves is a lot harder because the anatomy being worked on is difficult to examine. Typically, only CT scans are available that provide a reasonable look at the morphology. But, CT scans are not nearly as intuitive to analyze as real objects hence clinicians have do to...
Source: Medgadget - March 6, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Source Type: blogs
MyoKardia Develops Machine Learning Algorithm For Prediction of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Using Wearable Biosensor: Interview
In this study, we collected PPG pulse wave traces from patients with oHCM and healthy volunteers. Using automated analyses, we extracted details about the shape and pattern of the tracings and applied machine learning to identify differences in these features between oHCM patients and healthy volunteers. We found that a sensitive and specific signature of arterial blood flow in oHCM could be identified with the combination of a wrist-worn PPG biosensor and machine learning algorithms.
Medgadget: Have you compared the results of the biosensor created by Wavelet Health with results collected from another similar PPG d...
Source: Medgadget - February 8, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Alice Ferng Tags: Cardiology Exclusive Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 221
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 220.
Question 1
The Adverts, a UK punk band in the 1970s wrote the song “Looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes”. Who is Gary Gilmore and why would two people be looking through his eyes?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
expand(document.getElementById('...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - January 5, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five aspergillum Ayahuasca basket case cornea transplant garlic gary gilmore lone star tick meat allergy otomycosis paul simon shaman swimmers ear Source Type: blogs
An Ode to Evidence-Based Health Policy
By ANISH KOKA, MD
A recent kerfuffle ensued when a CDC analyst leaked details of a meeting that noted a list of banned words and phrases that included ‘evidence-based’ and ‘science-based’. This most recent assault on reason from the Trump administration was lapped up by partisans as yet another example of the dangers of having reality stars occupy the White House.
Unfortunately no one apparently told the director of the CDC, who took to twitter to respond:
I want to assure you there are no banned words at CDC. We will continue to talk about all our important public health programs.
— Dr Brenda Fitzgerald (...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 26, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
New Replacement Heart Valve Grows as Child Gets Older
Children born with congenital heart valve defects number in the thousands each year, yet there are simply no artificial cardiac valves available that were designed specifically for babies. Multiple heart surgeries have to be performed as the child outgrows successive implants. In addition, since the devices were never intended for children, they often have to be modified in the OR and sometimes they fail, leading to additional surgeries.
Draper Lab has now developed a tiny heart valve that expands and grows along with the child’s cardiac anatomy. The valve can expand more than twice its original diameter, potential...
Source: Medgadget - December 21, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
University of Michigan ’s Hybrid OR: High Tech Surgical Gadgetry Inside One Room
The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor sports one of the finest medical centers in America. We won’t even mention the football team. One of the reasons U of M’s clinics are at the forefront of what they do is because the university gives physicians the freedom to seek new ways of doing things. This includes building new facilities designed to handle the kind of medical practices that are expected to take place in the near future. One such facility is the recently built hybrid operating room at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, a room which combines a high-end cath lab with a traditional open-chest surgical en...
Source: Medgadget - October 27, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Exclusive Source Type: blogs
Cardiology MCQ Test 5
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Source: Cardiophile MD - October 22, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
OCD and Computational Psychiatry
This study shows that the actions of people with OCD often don’t take into account what they’ve already learned.”
In other words, what those with OCD know as true does not correlate with how they act. De Martino uses hand washing as an example. Some people with OCD know their hands are clean, but still they can’t stop washing them. That is a separation of belief and action. It’s interesting to note that the degree of separation between beliefs and actions directly corresponds to the severity of OCD symptoms.
To those of us familiar with obsessive-compulsive disorder, this is not surprising news. We alrea...
Source: World of Psychology - October 16, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Janet Singer Tags: OCD Personal Research Treatment Compulsions computational psychiatry hand washing Obsessions Rituals Source Type: blogs
The High Cost of Public Reporting
ANISH KOKA MD
In an age where big data is king and doctors are urged to treat populations, the journey of one man still has much to tell us. This is a tale of a man named Joe.
Joseph Carrigan was a bear of a man – though his wife would say he was more teddy than bear. He loved guitar playing, and camp horror movies. Those who knew him well said he had a kind heart, a quick wit and loved cats.
I knew none of these things when I met Joe in the Emergency Department on a Sunday afternoon. I had been called because of an abnormal electrocardiogram – the ER team was worried he could be having a heart attack. ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 18, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: anish_koka Tags: Uncategorized Cardiac surgery High-risk Quality Reporting Source Type: blogs
The Cost of Public Reporting
ANISH KOKA MD
In an age where big data is king and doctors are urged to treat populations, the journey of one man still has much to tell us. This is a tale of a man named Joe.
Joseph Carrigan was a bear of a man – though his wife would say he was more teddy than bear. He loved guitar playing, and camp horror movies. Those who knew him well said he had a kind heart, a quick wit and loved cats.
I knew none of these things when I met Joe in the Emergency Department on a Sunday afternoon. I had been called because of an abnormal electrocardiogram – the ER team was worried he could be having a heart attack. ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 18, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: anish_koka Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Calcium Supplements — Don ’ t waste your money
Calcium supplements have no role in the Undoctored/Wheat Belly lifestyle. For years, doctors have advised people to supplement calcium to prevent bone thinning and osteoporotic fractures based on the simple reasoning that if something is lacking, taking more of it must be the solution. But clinical trials have repeatedly demonstrated virtually no benefit with calcium supplementation— no slowing of bone thinning, no reduction of osteoporotic fractures.
Likewise, people who consume plentiful dairy products containing calcium do not have better bone health. One thing that people who supplement calcium do have is more...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - September 12, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Calcium Supplements Undoctored Wheat Belly Lifestyle gluten-free grain-free health healthcare osteopenia osteoporosis vitamin D Source Type: blogs
7 ways to combat compassion fatigue
This is the patient’s eight admission over the course of two weeks. The patient is a heroin abuser and has bacteremia and endocarditis. Their heart valve is failing and they are in and out of congestive heart failure. Every day, dozens of medical professionals converge on the patient to give treatment and advice. And every day after hearing that advice, the patient leaves the hospital against medical advice and goes to use IV drugs. They wind up back in the hospital out of fear or panic, or they are brought back in after overdosing by the police. The cycle continues.
In this common daily scenario, it is very easy as ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 17, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/jenny-hartsock" rel="tag" > Jenny Hartsock, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Cardiology Hospital-Based Medicine Infectious Disease Primary Care Source Type: blogs
