Cardiac Surgery News and Research

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Patients checking into a top rated hospital have a 27 percent lower chance of mortality

Patients checking into a hospital rated in the top five percent in the country have, on average, a 27 percent lower chance of mortality and a 14 percent lower risk of complications, according to a study released today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings company.

7 Feb 2006

Drug used worldwide doubles risk of kidney failure

A drug approved by the FDA, and sold worldwide for the last 13 years, has now been proven to double a patient's risk of kidney failure, and increase the risk of heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.

26 Jan 2006

Emergency angioplasty better than clot-busting drugs

Across America, hospitals large and small have been racing to offer angioplasty and other minimally invasive treatments to open blocked heart arteries. But not all of them have the ability to do it on an emergency basis, performing angioplasty around the clock on heart attack patients. So, during evenings and weekends, many hospitals use clot-busting drugs instead.

16 Jan 2006

Quality of care for acute myocardial infarction in elderly patients with alcohol-related diagnoses

Older Americans with alcohol problems do not get worse treatment than their sober peers when they are hospitalized for a heart attack, according to new research on Medicare patients across the country.

6 Jan 2006

Post cardiac surgery heart irregularities reduced by medication

Use of the medication amiodarone is associated with one-half the incidence of atrial tachyarrhythmias (rapid, abnormal heart beat) following cardiac surgery, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA.

28 Dec 2005

Six gene variants predict heart muscle damage after cardiac surgery

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that patients with six specific variants of genes involved in the body's immune response are significantly more likely to suffer damage of heart tissue after cardiac surgery.

16 Nov 2005

Association of aprotinin with reduced glucose levels during CABG surgery

An anesthesiology research team at Columbia University Medical Center have completed the first human study to show that aprotinin, a protease inhibitor, was associated with lower blood glucose levels during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

25 Oct 2005

New discoveries help explore the function of regulatory T cells in autoimmune disease and in cancer

More than 150 years after the discovery of Hassall's corpuscles in 1849, the function of these round blobs of cells in the human thymus gland has now been explained. The answer, in turn, ends an intense hunt for the origin of regulatory T cells that has been under way for years.

11 Oct 2005

Patients in level I trauma centers were nearly 20 percent less likely to die than those in level II centers

Patients who are taken to a level 2 trauma center after suffering serious injury are significantly more likely to die than comparable patients treated at a major level 1 trauma center, according to researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

9 Oct 2005

Study paves the way for new therapeutic targets which can potentially improve heart disease in patients with end-stage kidney failure

Night-time hemodialysis patients may have a greater capacity to repair their hearts and blood vessels compared to those on conventional dialysis three times a week, according to a study in the October issue of the American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

4 Oct 2005

Johns Hopkins awarded $12 million to study how stem cell therapies can be used to treat hearts damaged by heart attack

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins Heart Institute have been awarded more than $12 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to study how stem cell therapies can be used to treat hearts damaged by heart attack or heart failure.

4 Oct 2005

HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device

Nine years ago this week, a team of University of Michigan doctors gave a dying heart patient a second chance at life by implanting a high-tech pump in his chest. The high-risk procedure was the first in Michigan performed using a new blood-pumping device called a HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device, which helped the patient live until he received a heart transplant five weeks later.

28 Sep 2005

Heart attack patients run an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder

This may lead to a vicious cycle, with the PTSD associated with heart disease harming the patient's future cardiac heath, according to the study in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

26 Sep 2005

Heart disease patients face greater risk of PTSD

Heart attack patients, and most likely those with other forms of heart disease, run an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, says a new research review done in Denmark and the Netherlands.

22 Sep 2005

Long-term alcoholics are at a higher risk for postoperative infections following elective cardiac surgery

Previous research has shown that post-surgery rates of disease and death are two-to-five times greater among long-term alcoholics than nonalcoholic patients. Of all the possible complications, infection can be the most serious.

22 Sep 2005

Large scale study to see if angioplasty can be safely performed in small hospitals

Cardiologists at Johns Hopkins have launched a nationwide study of more than 16,000 patients to see if a potentially life-saving procedure called angioplasty can be safely performed in smaller, community hospitals, easing access to the therapy for patients. Researchers expect to enroll the first study patients in early fall 2005.

12 Sep 2005

Cardiac Surgery News and Research

Patients checking into a top rated hospital have a 27 percent lower chance of mortality

Drug used worldwide doubles risk of kidney failure

Emergency angioplasty better than clot-busting drugs

Quality of care for acute myocardial infarction in elderly patients with alcohol-related diagnoses

Post cardiac surgery heart irregularities reduced by medication

Six gene variants predict heart muscle damage after cardiac surgery

Association of aprotinin with reduced glucose levels during CABG surgery

New discoveries help explore the function of regulatory T cells in autoimmune disease and in cancer

Patients in level I trauma centers were nearly 20 percent less likely to die than those in level II centers

Study paves the way for new therapeutic targets which can potentially improve heart disease in patients with end-stage kidney failure

Johns Hopkins awarded $12 million to study how stem cell therapies can be used to treat hearts damaged by heart attack

HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device

Heart attack patients run an increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder

Heart disease patients face greater risk of PTSD

Long-term alcoholics are at a higher risk for postoperative infections following elective cardiac surgery

Large scale study to see if angioplasty can be safely performed in small hospitals

Inflammation plays an important role in post-operative stroke

Coronary angioplasty increases risk of developing Alzheimer's disease

Heart surgery safe and successful for many 80 year olds

Beta-blockers top choice for prevention and rate control for postoperative atrial fibrillation

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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