Cardiomyopathy News and Research

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Cardiomyopathy is a group of diseases with primary, usually diffuse, involvement of the myocardium. The myocardial disease is not secondary to ischaemic, valvular, congenital or pericardial disease.

Study shows neutralizing antibodies to C5a protein may prevent heart failure

New research published online in The FASEB Journal details research in rats and mice that offers hope for stopping the devastating, and often fatal, effects of sepsis in humans. In the study, University of Michigan researchers show how neutralizing the effects of a key protein fragment, called C5a, used by the immune system to attract white blood cells may ultimately prevent heart failure.

12 Apr 2011

Louisville Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine earns APS' Walter B. Cannon Award

Heart failure affects roughly six million Americans, yet treatment consists of either a heart transplant or the insertion of mechanical devices that assist the heart. This is unacceptable to Roberto Bolli, MD, Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Ky., which is why he is on a mission to make cardiac stem cell treatment an option for all who must cope with the limitations of a failing heart.

11 Apr 2011

ICD therapy can improve ischemic cardiomyopathy survival rates

Most patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy who have an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator now live more than seven years and those ICD patients with hereditary heart disease can live for decades, based on a scientific paper that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, April 1-3.

6 Apr 2011

Adherence to guideline-related therapies can reduce heart failure patients' mortality rate

A UCLA-led study has found that adherence to national guideline-recommended therapies for heart failure in an outpatient practice setting significantly lowered the mortality rate of heart failure patients.

5 Apr 2011

Therapeutic hypothermia is an effective treatment for young adult patients with HCM

Young adult patients with genetic heart diseases, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, substantially benefitted from therapeutic hypothermia, which could further extend the role for this treatment strategy in new patient populations, according to a scientific presentation at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, April 1-3.

4 Apr 2011

Merck's VICTRELIS phase III study results against HCV presented at EASL annual meeting

Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced results from several new data analyses from the pivotal Phase III studies evaluating the addition of its investigational oral protease inhibitor VICTRELIS to peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin in adult patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection.

1 Apr 2011

FDA approves Medtronic's Protecta implantable defibrillators

Medtronic, Inc. today announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the Protecta portfolio of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators.

29 Mar 2011

Stem cell therapy successfully heals a scarred and failing heart

A new study has shown that stem cells could heal scars caused by old heart attacks. In all eight patients who received the experimental treatment in an ongoing clinical trial this therapy worked. All of them had suffered heart attacks an average of 5 1/2 years prior; one of the patients had his heart attack 11 years earlier.

17 Mar 2011

Merck to present VICTRELIS phase III study data against HCV at EASL annual meeting

Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, announced that several new data analyses from Phase III studies of VICTRELIS, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, will be presented at The International Liver CongressTM / 46th European Association for the Study of the Liver annual meeting.

9 Mar 2011

Experts to discuss cause of sudden death on athletic playing fields

While the cause of death of the Fennville, Mich. high school basketball player is unknown, an inherited heart condition makes the top of the list for possible causes.

5 Mar 2011

High blood pressure medications useful even in those without hypertension: Study

Researchers have studied existing evidence to suggest that people who have had a stroke or a heart attack might benefit from taking blood pressure medications, even if they do not have high blood. They noted that for every 1,000 people taking the drugs in clinical trials, on average 15 fewer died from heart disease than when the patients got dummy treatment. The study however could not explain the cause for this benefit. The study, which was funded by Tulane University and the National Institutes of Health, was published in the March 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

1 Mar 2011

Mutated cancer pathway studies identify therapeutic targets for congenital heart disease

Cross-disciplinary teams of scientists studying genetic pathways that are mutated in many forms of cancer, but which also cause certain forms of congenital heart disease - including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle that is the leading cause of sudden death in children and young adults -, have introduced these mutations into mice and successfully treated HCM in the lab.

22 Feb 2011

New study: Rapamycin reverses cardiac muscle damage in LEOPARD syndrome mouse model

Congenital heart diseases affect approximately one in 100 patients, making them the most common type of birth defect and the number-one cause of pediatric deaths.

21 Feb 2011

Less than one-third of acute stroke patients receive clot-busting drug within 60 minutes of hospital arrival

Every minute counts after the onset of a stroke. The more time that elapses before a patient receives an intravenous drug to help break up the clot that is blocking a blood vessel in the brain, the slimmer the chances of a good outcome.

14 Feb 2011

Lack of DOT1L enzyme could lead to some types of heart disease: Study

Everyone knows chocolate is critical to a happy Valentine's Day. Now scientists are one step closer to knowing what makes a heart happy the rest of the year.

5 Feb 2011

Cardiac stem cell therapy can rebuild damaged heart in children

Visionaries in the field of cardiac therapeutics have long looked to the future when a damaged heart could be rebuilt or repaired by using one's own heart cells. A study published in the February issue of Circulation, a scientific journal of the American Heart Association, shows that heart stem cells from children with congenital heart disease were able to rebuild the damaged heart in the laboratory.

27 Jan 2011

Aastrom secures US patent for autologous cell therapy product

Aastrom Biosciences, a leading developer of expanded autologous cellular therapies for severe, chronic cardiovascular diseases, today announced that it has been granted a U.S. patent which provides composition of matter protection for its investigational expanded autologous cell therapy product.

19 Jan 2011

Study may help develop novel ways to combat lipotoxic cardiomyopathy, related heart disease

A team led by Rolf Bodmer, Ph.D. at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute recently unraveled an alternative pathway to lipotoxic cardiomyopathy in fruit flies - a genetic mechanism that occurs independently of a diet high in fat.

19 Jan 2011

Metabolon announces publication of 'Metabolomic Distinction and Insights into the Pathogenesis of Human Primary Dilated Cardiomyopathy'

Metabolon, the leader in metabolomics, biomarker discovery and analysis, announces the publication of "Metabolomic Distinction and Insights into the Pathogenesis of Human Primary Dilated Cardiomyopathy", in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.

6 Jan 2011

Ischemic stroke patients at substantial risk once leaving the hospital: Study

A UCLA-led has study found that after leaving the hospital, nearly two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for acute ischemic stroke either died or were rehospitalized within a year.

17 Dec 2010