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FDA approves new ExAblate Neuro to treat patients with essential tremor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first focused ultrasound device to treat essential tremor in patients who have not responded to medication. ExAblate Neuro uses magnetic resonance (MR) images taken during the procedure to deliver focused ultrasound to destroy brain tissue in a tiny area thought to be responsible for causing tremors.

11 Jul 2016

New electric mesh device wraps around the heart to deliver electrical impulses

A research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Seoul National University has developed a new electric mesh device that can be wrapped around the heart to deliver electrical impulses and thereby improve cardiac function in experimental models of heart failure, a major public health concern and leading cause of mortality and disability.

29 Jun 2016

Pharmacotherapy reduces conduction system disease risk

Lisinopril therapy significantly reduces incident conduction system disease, indicates a post-hoc analysis of ALLHAT data.

28 Jun 2016

Epclusa drug receives FDA approval for treating adult patients with chronic HCV

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Epclusa to treat adult patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) both with and without cirrhosis (advanced liver disease).

28 Jun 2016

Scientists develop novel bionic cardiac patch to treat heart problems

Scientists and doctors in recent decades have made vast leaps in the treatment of cardiac problems - particularly with the development in recent years of so-called "cardiac patches," swaths of engineered heart tissue that can replace heart muscle damaged during a heart attack.

28 Jun 2016

Study evaluates effectiveness of robotic approach over manual ablation in treating heart arrhythmia

Whether ablation of the highest-risk heart arrhythmia is best handled by a robot or the hands of an electrophysiologist should be answered by an international comparison of the two.

16 Jun 2016

New, implantable device offers promise for patients with OSA

Since the 1980s, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) - in which positive pressure is pushed through the nasal airways to help users breathe while sleeping - has been by far the most widely used treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

13 Jun 2016

Prolonged exposure to EAS systems can affect health of cardiac device patients

Electronic anti-theft systems still post a threat to cardiac device patients, according to research presented today at CARDIOSTIM - EHRA EUROPACE 2016 by Professor Robert Stevenson, senior scientist at Greatbatch Medical in Santa Clarita, California, US.

8 Jun 2016

TAVI matches SAVR for early and midterm mortality

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation has similar early and midterm mortality to surgical aortic valve replacement in patients with aortic stenosis, including those at low to intermediate risk, show results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

8 Jun 2016

Research shows weekend admissions in NHS hospital can affect AF patients

Patients suffering from the most common form of heart rhythm disorder who are admitted to NHS hospital over the weekend face a higher risk of dying over the next five years than those admitted during normal hours.

7 Jun 2016

Melatonin can be of great value for elderly people suffering from hypertension

The older we get, the more likely our circadian rhythms are disrupted. For example, blood pressure (BP), not only tends to increase but as well become more irregular. Luckily, as we show in our research, melatonin helps to ameliorate both trends.

18 May 2016

Advances in telemedicine: an interview with Dr Ameet Bakhai

Telemedicine is the art of improving patient care via managing data remotely, and in this spirit one of the earliest examples often not considered in this category, would be the permanent pacemaker, first implanted into a human being in 1958.

2 May 2016

Micra Transcatheter Pacing System approved to treat heart rhythm disorders

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first pacemaker that does not require the use of wired leads to provide an electrical connection between the pulse-generating device and the heart. While the Micra Transcatheter Pacing System works like other pacemakers to regulate heart rate, the self-contained, inch-long device is implanted directly in the right ventricle chamber of the heart.

7 Apr 2016

Parkinson's disease medications could lead to impulse control disorders

Drugs commonly prescribed to treat Parkinson's disease have been linked to impulse control disorders such as pathological gambling, compulsive buying, hypersexuality and binge eating in some patients, report neurologists from Loyola Medicine and Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

6 Apr 2016

Loyola to conduct clinical trial of new procedure to treat atrial fibrillation

Loyola Medicine is enrolling patients in a landmark clinical trial of a new procedure to treat atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat.

2 Apr 2016

New research sheds light on circadian rhythms

New research sheds light on how the rhythms of daily life are encoded in the brain. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that different groups of neurons, those charged with keeping time, become active at different times of day despite being on the same molecular clock.

3 Mar 2016

Digital health: the future for medicine?

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it," these were the words of Alan Kay quoted by Dr Euan Ashley at the Recent Developments in Digital Health 2016 event at the Royal Society of Medicine. No one exemplified this inspirational message further than Professor Tony Young, National Clinical Director for Innovation, NHS England.

26 Feb 2016

New study pinpoints two tiny clusters of neurons responsible for changing normal breaths into sighs

"You must remember this: a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh." Contrary to the words immortalized by the piano singer in "Casablanca," a sigh is far more than a sigh. Heaving an unconscious sigh is a life-sustaining reflex that helps preserve lung function.

9 Feb 2016

MRI safe for patients with implantable cardiac devices

The findings of a major study led by cardiovascular imaging specialists at Allegheny General Hospital, part of the Allegheny Health Network, suggest that magnetic resonance imaging is a safe and effective diagnostic procedure for patients with implantable cardiac devices.

30 Jan 2016

Pacemaker Induced Transient Asynchrony could help slow down progression of heart failure

Johns Hopkins has demonstrated in animals that applying a pacemaker's mild electrical shocks to push the heart in and out of normal synchronized contraction for part of each day may be an effective way to slow down the progression of heart failure, a disorder that afflicts millions of Americans.

24 Dec 2015