Biophan Technologies, Inc., a developer of next-generation medical technology, in conjunction with MYOTECH, LLC, recently presented results of animal studies that indicate the potential of the MYO-VAD, a cardiac support system to significantly improve the treatment of heart failure. The MYO-VAD restores cardiac output on an arrested or weak heart. The device can be implanted in approximately three minutes.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved revised labeling for Trasylol (aprotinin injection) to strengthen its safety warnings and to limit its approved usage to specific situations. Trasylol is given to patients before heart surgery to reduce bleeding and the need for blood transfusions. Trasylol is marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Leverkusen, Germany.
The largest-ever study of carotid stenting in high-surgical risk patients has shown that with proper education and training, community physicians are just as successful at using catheter-based techniques to unclog arteries supplying blood to the brain as are those who pioneered the procedure at major university medical centers.
Every year there are potentially more than 500 sudden unexplained deaths in England, reveals a nationwide study published ahead of print in the journal Heart. This figure is around eight times higher than previously thought, the data suggest.
A new, easy-to-read booklet ? Stay Safe in Cold Weather! ? offers older adults tips on avoiding a dangerous condition called hypothermia. This free 12-page publication is now available from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
UK researchers have found that men who lose 3cm or more of height as they age have an increased risk of heart attack and death. The study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, took into account other risk factors for heart disease and poor health.
Thousands of statin users worldwide are suffering preventable heart attacks, simply because they are not complying with their treatment or are taking too low a dose, according to new research published on-line today (Thursday 7 December) in European Heart Journal.
Epilepsy specialists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have found that brain injury patients in a coma can benefit from prolonged electroencephalographic (EEG) testing that may diagnose whether seizure activity is contributing to their coma state.
FDA was notified that Pfizer will suspend a large, Phase 3 trial evaluating the investigational cardiovascular therapy torceptrapib/atorvastatin (T/A) due to an increased rate of mortality (death) in patients receiving the combination compared to those receiving atorvastatin alone.
In testimony before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Gregory J. Dehmer, MD, president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), today urged a review panel to evaluate new data on the safety of drug-eluting stents (DES) from the perspective of prior developments in the history of coronary intervention, and with an appreciation for the balance of benefits and risks that guides all clinical decision-making.