Pulmonary Artery News and Research

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Corticosteroids do not improve survival in patients with late-stage acute respiratory distress syndrome

The study is the first multi-center randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effects of moderate doses of steroids in ARDS patients when treatment is started 7 days or more after the onset of the condition.

20 Apr 2006

Hormone brain natriuretic peptide can predict pulmonary hypertension

Measuring levels of a hormone called brain natriuretic peptide in individuals with serious lung disease can predict the presence of pulmonary hypertension and a patient's potential death or survival, regardless of clinical severity or the cause of illness.

4 Apr 2006

Animal-assisted therapy beneficial

When it comes to health care, "going to the dogs" is a good thing, according to new research reported at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2005.

16 Nov 2005

Electron-beam computed tomography - a more accurate replacement for coronary catheterizations

Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for detecting a dangerous congenital heart abnormality that could cause sudden death, according to research by a Saint Louis University radiologist published last month in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

10 Oct 2005

PACs should not be used routinely in patients in intensive care units with severe heart failure

The use of a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) -- a device used for more than 30 years to assess cardiovascular health and to help guide the treatment of critically ill patients -- does not appear to improve outcomes nor confer added risks to patients.

4 Oct 2005

Hospitalized patients with severe congestive heart failure did not experience a benefit from use of pulmonary artery catheterization

Advances in medical therapy have improved outcomes for many ambulatory patients with heart failure and low ejection fraction (EF; a measure of how much blood the left ventricle of the heart pumps out with each contraction), according to background information in the article.

4 Oct 2005

Electron-beam computed tomography best for evaluating adults with congenital defects in the heart arteries

Electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT) is more accurate than conventional catheter angiography for identifying which adult patients face the greatest risk of sudden death from congenital abnormalities in the arteries supplying blood to the heart, according to a study in the September 2005 issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

13 Aug 2005

First evidence that preeclampsia can leave a persistent and potentially fatal imprint in the pulmonary circulation of the fetus

Children born of mothers who had preeclampsia during their pregnancy are more likely to have pulmonary hypertension than similar children born from normal pregnancies, according to a study conducted in Bolivia by Swiss and Bolivian researchers.

4 Apr 2005

Treatment of cardiac lesions without anaesthesic

Navarre University Hospital has introduced a novel technique for the treatment of congenital heart defects and involving the percutaneous closure of the patent foramen ovale (PFO) with monitoring through intracavernous ecography.

23 Mar 2005

New advances in sickle cell disease

Excruciating pain episodes, recurrent pneumonias, strokes, severe infections, chronic hemolytic anemia, and secondary pulmonary hypertension are common complications of sickle cell disease, a life-threatening inherited defect in blood that causes normally disc-shaped red blood cells to take on a sickle shape.

6 Dec 2004

Novel anti-obesity compound shows promise for treatment of obesity

Arena Pharmaceuticals announced today results from the dosing phase of its Phase 1b clinical trial of APD356, an orally administered small molecule designed to regulate satiety (and perhaps metabolism) for the treatment of obesity.

30 Nov 2004

Blood flow monitoring system to reduce risks during heart surgery

A unique haemodynamic (blood flow) monitoring system which will help to minimise the risk of complications during cardiovascular surgery is being developed by Leeds-based medical devices company, Medics Research Ltd.

4 Nov 2004

Two hearts are better than one for toddler

Camila Gonzalez now has two hearts beating separate rhythms inside her tiny chest. At 22 months of age, she became the youngest child in the United States to receive a donor’s heart while also retaining her original one.

25 Oct 2004

$16 million investment in minute wireless implant technology

Remon Medical Technologies a privately held medical device company, today announced that it has raised $16 million in the initial close of a Series C financing.

23 Sep 2004

Blood vessel plug - amplatzer ductal occluder, performs well in trial

In the largest and longest trial yet of a device called the Amplatzer ductal occluder, a duct that shunts blood flow away from the lungs during fetal development but sometimes fails to close after birth, was successfully closed in almost all patients, according to a new study in the Aug. 4, 2004, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Aug 2004

Half of the complications and deaths due to in-hospital DVT can be prevented with once daily dalteparin

Current research supports the use of blood-thinners to help acutely ill, hospitalized patients minimize the risk of death from a pulmonary embolism (PE) and its precursor deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

3 Aug 2004

Oral sildenafil improved exercise tolerance, cardiac output and quality of life in 22 patients with primary pulmonary hypertension

Oral sildenafil (Viagra®) improved exercise tolerance, cardiac output and quality of life in 22 patients with primary pulmonary hypertension, according to the results of the first randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study, reported in the April 7, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

6 Apr 2004