Heart Surgery News and Research

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Heart surgery is done to correct problems with the heart. More than half a million heart surgeries are done each year in the United States for a variety of heart problems. Heart surgery is used to correct heart problems in children and adults. This article discusses heart surgeries for adults. For more information about heart surgeries for children, see the Diseases and Conditions Index articles on congenital heart defects, holes in the heart, and tetralogy of Fallot.

The most common type of heart surgery for adults is coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). During CABG, surgeons use healthy arteries or veins taken from another part of the body to bypass (that is, go around) blocked arteries. CABG relieves chest pain and reduces the risk of heart attack.

Viewpoints: CLASS decision ends fear of government bailout; the strengths and failings of U.S. health care

The problem, as numerous experts warned at the time, was whether the program could be run, as the law required, in a way that made it financially solvent for at least 75 years. The difficulty with the CLASS Act was ensuring that premiums could be set low enough to attract widespread participation but high enough to pay tbenefits. The risk was that the program would attract the sickest participants, who thought they might need its protections, and thereby drive premium prices ever higher in a spiral of dysfunctionhe promised.

19 Oct 2011

Patients with AB blood type 20% less likely to die after CABG surgery

A new study presented at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2011 focused on whether blood type affects survival after heart surgery. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center studied more than 15,000 patients to determine if a specific blood type puts patients at a higher risk for death or complications after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

18 Oct 2011

Troy High School teacher receives top prize in national ING Unsung Heroes awards program

ING, a leading provider of employer-sponsored retirement plans for educators, businesses, and government and not-for-profit entities, announced that Rebecca Brewer, a biology teacher at Troy High School in Troy, Mich., has received the top prize in the national 2011 ING Unsung Heroes awards program. Through this program, ING awards educators throughout the U.S. grants for innovative teaching ideas.

11 Oct 2011

CoreValve prosthesis shows promise against severe aortic stenosis

Among individuals 65 years and older, as many as 30 percent have aortic valve sclerosis or stenosis and as a result of their deteriorating health, cannot enjoy a normal lifestyle. "The aortic valve is a gatekeeper," says Marco Costa, MD, of University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical in Cleveland.

From Medtronic 1 Oct 2011

JenaValve's transapical TAVI system receives CE mark approval to treat aortic valve stenosis

JenaValve Technology GmbH, a German medical device company specializing in the development of transcatheter heart valve implantation systems, announced today that the Company has received CE mark approval for its transapical TAVI system of the second-generation. This system is used to treat severe aortic valve stenosis in elderly high-risk patients, especially in patients for whom conventional open-heart surgery is not an option.

1 Oct 2011

Engager Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation System pivotal trial to be conducted at 11 European centers

Medtronic, Inc. today announced the start of the Engager European Pivotal Trial to pursue CE Mark for the Engager Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation System in patients suffering from severe aortic stenosis.

From Medtronic 28 Sep 2011

Children with false-positive screening results do not have more health care visits

There has been longstanding concern among physicians and policymakers that false-positive results may cause parents to believe that their children are vulnerable to illness, leading them to overuse health care services as their children grow older.

20 Sep 2011

U-M selects new integration technology for its children and women's hospitals

The University of Michigan Health System has selected a new system-wide integration platform to connect clinical alarm and alert data from medical to communications devices, wireless phones and pagers for its new 348-bed C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital.

14 Sep 2011

Genetic variant associated with increased long-term mortality risk after coronary artery bypass graft procedure

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found a genetic variant that seems to be associated with lower five-year survival after a coronary artery bypass.

14 Sep 2011

More pediatric subspecialists entering private practice could mean fewer at academic centers

An increasing number of pediatric subspecialists are entering private practice, a trend that could mean a smaller proportion working at academic centers, conducting research, teaching or advancing specialty care, a University of Michigan study finds.

13 Sep 2011

Individuals with excess BMI more likely to develop type 2 diabetes

Obesity is a known risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes. But it hasn't been clear whether the "dose" of obesity—how much excess weight a person has, and for how long—affects the risk of diabetes.

7 Sep 2011

Shriners Hospitals for Children uses Masimo SpHb during selected surgeries

The healthcare professionals at Shriners Hospitals for Children - Honolulu, which perform hundreds of orthopaedic surgeries on children each year, are using the latest in medical technology from Masimo to noninvasively monitor patient blood levels during selected surgeries.

31 Aug 2011

Safety tips for children to avoid pedestrian-related accidents

With the start of the school year quickly approaching, physicians from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital are urging parents and drivers to do their part to keep kids safe as they walk to school.

29 Aug 2011

Philips to launch first sleep apnea mobile app at ESC 2011 congress

Royal Philips Electronics will provide clinicians from across the globe with a glimpse of future innovations designed to advance cardiac care, including the current management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated cardiac conditions, during the 2011 Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), which opens today in Paris.

From Philips Healthcare 29 Aug 2011

Sutureless method for reconnecting blood vessels

Reconnecting severed blood vessels is mostly done the same way today - with sutures - as it was 100 years ago, when the French surgeon Alexis Carrel won a Nobel Prize for advancing the technique.

29 Aug 2011

New clinical data shows positive long-term performance of Medtronic's CoreValve system

New clinical data presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2011 demonstrate positive long-term performance for the CoreValve transcatheter aortic valve replacement system from Medtronic, Inc.

From Medtronic 29 Aug 2011

Babies, toddlers with congenital heart disease more likely to have harmful toxins after surgery

Babies and toddlers with congenital heart disease are at an increased risk of having harmful toxins in their blood, particularly following surgery, according to research by a team at Imperial College London.

26 Aug 2011

NHLBI selects U-M Congenital Heart Center for clinical research

The University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center has been selected as a new Pediatric Heart Network core site for clinical research. Created and funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, the Pediatric Heart Network is a cooperative network of pediatric cardiovascular clinical research centers that conducts studies in children with congenital or acquired heart disease.

20 Aug 2011

Waist circumference does not effectively predict children with increased risk of diabetes

Waist circumference, a measure of belly fat, is not a better predictor than body mass index for identifying children with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study by University of Michigan researchers.