Heart Transplantation News and Research

RSS

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.

Kids with congenital heart defect should receive early evaluation for developmental disorders

Children born with a congenital heart defect should receive early evaluation, prompt treatment and ongoing follow-up for related developmental disorders affecting brain function, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published in Circulation.

31 Jul 2012

Being overweight may actually benefit some cardiac patients

A high body mass index and large waist circumference are associated with improved outcomes in both men and women with heart failure, research shows.

10 Jul 2012

UCLA Heart Transplant Program performs 2,000th heart transplant surgery

The UCLA Heart Transplant Program performed its 2,000th heart transplant surgery earlier this month, becoming the first program in the western United States and only the second in the world to achieve this remarkable milestone.

28 Jun 2012

HeartWare receives expanded European label for Ventricular Assist System

HeartWare International, Inc., a leading innovator of less invasive, miniaturized circulatory support technologies revolutionizing the treatment of advanced heart failure, today announced that it has received an expanded European label for long-term use of the HeartWare Ventricular Assist System in all patients at risk of death from refractory, end-stage heart failure.

23 May 2012

Statin therapy prevents cancer and reduces death risk in heart transplant recipients

Statins prevent cancer and reduce death from all causes in heart transplant recipients. The findings were independent of cholesterol levels.

21 May 2012

New mom receives surprise heart transplant

New mom Windy Hill, 38, of Kingsport, Tenn., was given the ultimate Mother's Day gift a little early after she was wheeled into the operating room at Vanderbilt University Hospital on April 20 to receive a mechanical pump to aid her failing heart and save her life.

14 May 2012

Updated results from CircuLite’s Synergy miniature ventricular support system clinical study

CircuLite, Inc. today announced that updated clinical data related to the Synergy miniature ventricular support system was presented in two oral presentations and one poster session at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation's 32nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions (ISHLT) in Prague, Czech Republic.

21 Apr 2012

Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute performs most adult heart transplants of any U.S. medical center

For the second year in a row, the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and Comprehensive Transplant Center performed the most adult heart transplants of any U.S. medical center, according to government statistics.

4 Apr 2012

FDA approves IDE for HeartWare 'ADVANCE' bridge-to-transplant 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 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an IDE Supplement that allows HeartWare to enroll a fourth allotment, of 54 additional patients, in its "ADVANCE" bridge-to-transplant clinical trial under a Continued Access Protocol.

17 Mar 2012

Prevention and treatment options are improving long-term outcomes for heart failure

"Despite the increasing number of people affected, the prognosis for patients with heart failure has steadily improved," said Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D, chairman of American Heart Association Hospital Accreditation Science Committee and professor of cardiovascular medicine of the University of California, Los Angeles.

14 Feb 2012

FDA nod for pediatric Berlin heart

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Berlin Heart for pediatric patients waiting for heart transplants. The ventricular assist device is similar to the one worn by former Vice President Dick Cheney but scaled down in size for children and babies.

19 Dec 2011

Berlin Heart receives FDA approval for EXCOR Pediatric System

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a medical device that supports the weakened heart of children with heart failure to help keep them alive until a donor for a heart transplant can be found.

17 Dec 2011

Study investigates 'missing link' between environmental factors and heart failure

A University of Cambridge study, which set out to investigate DNA methylation in the human heart and the 'missing link' between our lifestyle and our health, has now mapped the link in detail across the entire human genome.

30 Nov 2011

Highmark now covers AlloMap for monitoring heart transplant rejection

XDx, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on the development and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high value non-invasive diagnostic tests to monitor immune-mediated conditions, today announced that Highmark Inc., an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, is now covering AlloMap for its beneficiaries.

9 Nov 2011

Study: Heart transplantation is a very safe and effective therapy

Heart transplantation is a very safe and effective therapy, according to a new long-term study presented today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2011, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

24 Oct 2011

HeartWare announces updated clinical data from BTT study, ADVANCE and CAP

HeartWare International, Inc., a leading innovator of less invasive, miniaturized circulatory support technologies that are revolutionizing the treatment of advanced heart failure, today announced updated clinical data from its bridge to heart transplantation (BTT) study, ADVANCE, and the Continued Access Protocol.

3 Oct 2011

First patient in Turkey with Total Artificial Heart attends TUYOD meeting

In May 2011, Omer Bayrak made headlines when he became the first patient in Turkey to be discharged from the hospital using the Freedom® portable driver to power his SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart. Since returning home to wait for a matching donor heart, Mr. Bayrak has been enjoying his new-found celebrity as "the only man in Turkey who lives without a heart."

30 Sep 2011

New tool to predict survival after heart transplant

Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a formula to predict which heart transplant patients are at greatest risk of death in the year following their surgeries, information that could help medical teams figure out who would benefit most from the small number of available organs.

2 Sep 2011

Postoperative outcomes of VAD bridged patients are worse than conventional therapy

Postoperative outcomes of severe heart failure patients bridged with short-term VADs to urgent heart transplantation are significantly worse than those of patients bridged with conventional support, recent data of the Spanish National Heart Transplant Registry suggest.

30 Aug 2011

Key risk factors for death, transplantation in children with dilated cardiomyopathy

Researchers have identified important risk factors for death and transplantation in children with dilated cardiomyopathy, according to results from a study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

26 Jul 2011