Heart Transplantation News and Research

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A heart transplant is an operation in which the diseased heart in a person is replaced with a healthy heart from a deceased donor. Ninety percent of heart transplants are performed on patients with end-stage heart failure.

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is damaged or weakened and can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. "End-stage" means the condition has become so severe that all treatments, other than heart transplant, have failed.

Drug could be repurposed to help end transplant rejection

A diabetes drug currently undergoing development could be repurposed to help end transplant rejection, without the side-effects of current immunosuppressive drugs, according to new research by Queen Mary University of London.

21 Nov 2017

Recommendations to prevent heart failure hospitalizations

Heart failure (HF) affects approximately 5.7 million adults in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If not properly managed, HF can lead to frequent hospitalizations.

10 Nov 2017

Scientists explore popular pre-heart transplant therapy’s impact on kidney function

Scientists, nephrologists and cardiac surgeons from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Northwell Health's Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Cardio-Thoracic Surgery examined the impact of a popular pre-heart transplant therapy on the kidney in a study published today by The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

26 Oct 2017

Study identifies possibility of umbilical cord-derived stem cells in treating heart failure

A new study published in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation Research suggests that stem cells derived from umbilical cord show promise in treating heart failure.

28 Sep 2017

Optical clearing technique reveals fine structure of the heart

A technique borrowed from neuroscience to see through brain tissue is helping scientists to see the fine structure of the heart.

12 Jul 2017

Pitt scientists discover genes responsible for severe congenital heart disease

The first known identification of two genes responsible for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a severe congenital heart defect, has been reported by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

22 May 2017

World's leading heart failure congress sets new record for abstract submissions

A new record for original science submissions has been set for the world's leading heart failure congress. In addition to the main abstract programme, highly anticipated results from major studies will be presented in the late breaking trial sessions.

29 Mar 2017

Study shows how immune cells drive heart damage in mice

A new study in mice reveals that eosinophils, a type of disease-fighting white blood cell, appear to be at least partly responsible for the progression of heart muscle inflammation to heart failure in mice.

16 Mar 2017

Global Mycobacterium chimaera outbreak linked to heater-cooler devices used in cardiac surgery

A global outbreak of Mycobacterium chimaera, an invasive, slow-growing bacterium, is linked to heater-cooler devices (HCD) used in cardiac surgery, according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

14 Nov 2016

Gender matching key for corneal transplants? An interview with Professor Kaye

The cornea is a transparent tissue lining the front of the eye, that is invisible tissue to the naked eye. It is a delicate tissue and disease or injury may lead to a loss of transparency or a change in the shape of the cornea, resulting in severe visual impairment.

19 Sep 2016

Clinical study explores effect of iron supplements in reducing hospitalisation in heart failure patients

A clinical study - known as IRONMAN - will determine if iron supplement injections could ease the disabling symptoms of heart failure. The trial was officially launched today at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference in Manchester.

6 Jun 2016

End-stage heart failure patients treated with cell therapy experience fewer cardiac events

End-stage heart failure patients treated with stem cells harvested from their own bone marrow experienced 37 percent fewer cardiac events - including deaths and heart failure hospital admissions - than a placebo-controlled group, according to a new study.

5 Apr 2016

Common viruses could produce mild to lethal cardiac injury

A review article has been published in the journal Current Pharmaceutical Design which provides an overview of therecent literature discussing the different clinical forms of heart disease resulting from virus infections including the prognosis, and current therapies.

2 Apr 2016

Surgeons successfully perform heart transplant at Baylor University Medical Center

A surgical team at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas successfully performed a heart transplant on a patient they were keeping alive with a total artificial heart, a portable device that pumps blood throughout the body when both sides of the heart fail.

17 Mar 2016

ISHLT issues new list of criteria to determine patient eligibility for heart transplant

To determine patient eligibility for heart transplant, the International Society for Heart Lung Transplantation maintains a list of criteria, first issued in 2006, that acts as a guideline for physicians.

7 Jan 2016

Surgeons participate in record-setting day of organ transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center

One week ago, surgical teams took part in a record-setting day of organ transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Surgeons on the medical staff performed nine organ transplants on seven patients in one calendar day.

11 Sep 2015

No significant research undertaken to prevent or treat PPCM in healthy pregnant women, study reveals

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare disorder characterized by weakened pumping of the heart, or "left ventricular dysfunction," which results in otherwise healthy pregnant women experiencing heart failure shortly before or up to five months after they deliver healthy babies. Despite the seriousness of this condition, a new study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology revealed that no significant research has been undertaken to explore how to prevent or treat this disorder.

16 Jul 2015

Use of fresh whole blood from single donors may reduce complications in pediatric heart surgery patients

Using fresh whole blood from single donors is better than using component blood from multiple donors in pediatric heart surgery patients, according to an article in the May 2015 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

30 Apr 2015

Mayo Clinic heart transplant surgeons present findings from three clinical studies at ISHLT 2015

Heart transplant surgeons from Mayo Clinic are presenting findings from three recent clinical studies involving heart transplant patients. The presentations took place during the 2015 International Society of Heart & Lung Transplant in Nice, France, on April 15-18.

21 Apr 2015

HeartWare Ventricular Assist System meets primary endpoint in ENDURANCE clinical trial

HeartWare International, Inc., a leading innovator of less invasive, miniaturized circulatory support technologies that are revolutionizing the treatment of advanced heart failure, today announced that data from its first destination therapy clinical trial cohort, ENDURANCE, successfully demonstrated that the trial achieved the primary endpoint.

16 Apr 2015