Heart Defect News and Research

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Children with single-ventricle disease have higher rates of brain abnormalities at each stage of surgery

As children with single-ventricle disease, a complex and severe heart defect, undergo a series of three reconstructive surgeries, pediatric researchers have detected higher rates of brain abnormalities at each stage.

4 May 2017

How is Formula 1 revolutionizing healthcare?

We've been in Formula 1 now for 51 years. What defines our ability to compete is the fact that we have understood the need to innovate. In addition, we take an incremental rather than disruptive approach to innovation.

25 Apr 2017

New pregnancy recommendations offer road map to help women with congenital heart disease

For generations, doctors told women who were born with complex congenital heart defects that the physical demands of pregnancy and delivery would be too difficult for them, and that they should not have babies.

7 Feb 2017

ACHD Program at Cincinnati Children's to receive ACHA accreditation

The Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD) Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is one of a handful of programs in the nation to be awarded accreditation by the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA).

29 Dec 2016

Clinical study tests adult stem cell therapy for infants with congenital HLHS

In a first-in-children randomized clinical study, medical researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have begun testing to see whether adult stem cells derived from bone marrow benefit children with the congenital heart defect hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

21 Dec 2016

Cardiac imaging during surgery may improve outcomes for children with congenital heart disease

Using cardiac imaging during heart surgery can detect serious residual holes in the heart that may occur when surgeons repair a child's heart defect, and offers surgeons the opportunity to close those holes during the same operation.

19 Dec 2016

Experts discuss ways to integrate whole genome analysis into clinical practice at Congenica webinar

Whole genome analysis – where all of a patient’s genes are screened for potential disease causing variants – offers the potential for a rapid, responsive NHS testing service.

6 Dec 2016

No added benefit proven for pulmonary arterial hypertension drug, IQWiG finds

Selexipag is approved for long-term treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in adults with moderate to severe symptoms.

7 Oct 2016

New model of Williams syndrome may shed light on neurobiology of the human social brain

In a study spanning molecular genetics, stem cells and the sciences of both brain and behavior, researchers at University of California San Diego, with colleagues at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and elsewhere, have created a neurodevelopmental model of a rare genetic disorder that may provide new insights into the underlying neurobiology of the human social brain.

11 Aug 2016

NYU Lutheran offers comprehensive cardiac care for unborn babies

Caring for an infant begins long before birth. Expectant moms are advised to avoid smoking and drinking, watch what they eat, and follow a host of other recommendations that are in the best interest of themselves and their little one on the way.

11 Aug 2016

Updated AAN guidelines state closure not recommended for individuals with stroke and heart defect

An updated recommendation from the American Academy of Neurology states that catheter-based closure should not be routinely recommended for people who have had a stroke and also have a heart defect called a patent foramen ovale (PFO), a channel between the top two chambers in the heart.

28 Jul 2016

ASA recommends parents to ask seven questions to child's physician anesthesiologist prior to surgery

Millions of children have surgery every year - for everything from tonsil removal to correction of a heart defect - and understandably parents are often anxious about their child's safety and comfort.

12 Jul 2016

New experimental model may predict eventual cardiac phenotype in pediatric patients

An experimental model uses genetics-guided biomechanics and patient-derived stem cells to predict what type of inherited heart defect a child will develop, according to authors of a new study in the journal Cell.

21 May 2016

Arterial switch to 12 o'clock position linked to myocardial ischaemia risk in adolescence

Arterial switch to the 12 o'clock position is associated with abnormal coronary perfusion in adolescence, reveals research presented today at EuroCMR 2016.1 Babies born with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) undergo the arterial switch operation in the first days of life.

13 May 2016

Boston Children's, Edwards Lifesciences launch new prosthetic heart valve study for congenital heart defect

Surgeons in the Heart Center at Boston Children's Hospital have partnered with Edwards Lifesciences to launch a clinical study of a new prosthetic heart valve for patients born with a congenital heart defect.

17 Mar 2016

New analysis of heart structure, function for prevention of cardiac emergencies in basketball players

An analysis of the cardiac structure and function of more than 500 National Basketball Association (NBA) players provides information that can be incorporated into clinical assessments for the prevention of cardiac emergencies in basketball players and the athletic community at large, according to a study published online by JAMA Cardiology.

25 Feb 2016

Long-term survival of 'blue babies' and patients with congenital heart defects reasonably good

Over 90 percent of those operated on for congenital heart defects as children, for example, due to blue baby syndrome, are alive 20 years post-surgery. A new doctoral thesis at Sahlgrenska Academy has explored this issue.

17 Feb 2016

New methodology could spare kids from unnecessary heart surgery

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than help save a child's heart? That's what Vittoria Flamini, an industry assistant professor in Tandon's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has in mind.

15 Feb 2016

TBX5 gene expression could play key role in congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect and the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States. Mutations in the gene TBX5 have been shown to cause both rare and more prevalent forms of congenital heart disease, yet the underlying mechanisms have remained unclear.

9 Feb 2016

Researchers demonstrate new way to reduce preterm birth using nanoparticles

Using nanoparticles to engineer a special drug, a team of researchers has demonstrated in mice a new way to both reduce preterm birth and avoid the risks of medication in pregnancy to unborn babies.

2 Feb 2016