Defibrillator News and Research

Latest Defibrillator News and Research

New model is able to accurately predict survival for patients with heart failure

A new model developed at the University of Washington provides an accurate estimate of one-, two-, and three-year survival rates and average years of survival for patients with heart failure.

15 Mar 2006

Study shows one third of candidates are unlikely to benefit from ICD

Last year, about 170,000 people in North America had devices surgically implanted to stop potentially fatal arrhythmias. For many, these were life-saving, but for others they were unnecessary, uncomfortable, and sometimes dangerous.

7 Feb 2006

Implantable defibrillators benefit women as much as men after heart attack

Women who have had a heart attack get as much survival benefit as men from implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), devices designed to monitor the heart's pumping rhythm and shock it back to normal when needed, according to a study published in the December edition of the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology.

22 Dec 2005

Children with heart defects benefit from exercise

A small but compelling pilot study indicates that many children with serious congenital heart disease, who are typically urged to restrict their activity, can improve their cardiovascular function and exercise capacity through a cardiac rehabilitation program.

5 Dec 2005

Lay people can effectively use defibrillators to save the lives of cardiac arrest victims

The first large-scale study to see whether trained volunteers and lay people can use defibrillators to save the lives of cardiac arrest (CA) victims has concluded that their use by lay people is safe, and if the response time can be shortened to within eight minutes there is the potential to save the lives of 15 out of 100 people who collapse suddenly with CA.

5 Dec 2005

Carvedilol, a cardiovascular drug, may improve heart failure and help prevent sudden death

Research shows that Carvedilol, a cardiovascular drug, could be useful in reducing cardiac death in high risk patients with prior myocardial infarction and/or heart failure and also in reducing the incidence and/or preventing the occurrence of atrial fibrillation in a number of clinical situations.

2 Dec 2005

Carvedilol may improve heart failure and help prevent sudden death

16 Nov 2005

Support for heart implants to be returned to manufacturers after death

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is throwing it's weight behind a policy that would mean implantable heart defibrillators would be returned to their manufacturers to be studied for possible defects after the patient dies.

9 Nov 2005

MRI measurements of scar tissue accurately predict the risk of arrhythmia-related sudden death

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the heart wall, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that people whose muscle wall thickness contained more than 25 percent scar tissue were approximately nine times more likely to test positive for a fast and dangerous heart rhythm known as ventricular arrhythmia.

3 Nov 2005

Defibrillators plentiful in schools but not senior centers

A greater percentage of high schools had automated external defibrillators (AEDs) - devices that can be used to treat cardiac arrest victims - than senior centers, despite the fact that cardiac arrests appear more common in senior centers, according to a study by University of Iowa researchers.

20 Oct 2005

Defibrillator implantations performed by physicians with low volume are more likely to have adverse outcomes

As the implantation of cardioverter-defibrillator devices to prevent sudden cardiac death becomes increasingly popular, patients are likely to get the best results when they are treated by physicians who perform the procedures frequently, according to a new study in the Oct. 18, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

11 Oct 2005

Innovative new treatment for moderate to severe heart failure

Cardiologists at Beth Israel Medical Center are currently enrolling patients in an investigational study that is looking at the safety and efficacy of an innovative new treatment for moderate to severe heart failure, in which a unique pacemaker-like device helps strengthen the heart's pumping power

26 Sep 2005

Study - no effect of fish oil on life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia

In patients with an increased risk of heart rhythm problems, cardiac arrest or arrhythmia, eating fish oil did little to reduce that risk.

6 Sep 2005

Guidant receives FDA approval to re-enter heart failure market

Guidant Corporation has announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to re-launch its CONTAK RENEWAL 3 family of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) defibrillators in the United States.

2 Aug 2005

Surgical myectomy gives fresh start to patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), an abnormal thickening of the heart, affects more than 500,000 Americans, making it more common than better-known conditions such as Crohn's disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Anorexia Nervosa.

2 Aug 2005

Faulty defibrillators may mean surgery for thousands of cardiac patients

Surgery to replace possibly faulty implanted cardiac defibrillators may now be on the cards for thousands of cardiac patients.

20 Jun 2005

Fish oil not a good idea for heart defibrillator patients

For heart patients who have surgically implanted defibrillators to shock their weakened hearts back into rhythm, fish oil supplements are not a good idea and in fact appear to do more harm than good.

15 Jun 2005

Fish oil does not lower risk of serious heart rhythm abnormalities for patients with implantable defibrillators

Even though previous research has shown that fatty acids from fish oil reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, patients with implantable defibrillators who took fish oil supplements did not see a reduction in serious heart rhythm abnormalities, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

14 Jun 2005

Call for better monitoring of new devices after sudden death of college student

Thousands of people with diseased hearts who have undergone surgical implantation of a cardiac defibrillator, a mechanical device inserted under the skin that shocks a heart when it beats improperly, will be concerned after the death recently of a 21-year-old college student with a genetic heart abnormality who died of cardiac arrest while on a bicycle trip.

29 May 2005

Guidant admits, three years down the line, to a fault with internal heart defibrillator

In a very belated admission Guidant Corp., has now acknowledged that it's internal heart defibrillator has an electrical problem that caused a small fraction of the implanted devices to short-circuit.

24 May 2005

Defibrillator News and Research

Latest Defibrillator News and Research

New model is able to accurately predict survival for patients with heart failure

Study shows one third of candidates are unlikely to benefit from ICD

Implantable defibrillators benefit women as much as men after heart attack

Children with heart defects benefit from exercise

Lay people can effectively use defibrillators to save the lives of cardiac arrest victims

Carvedilol, a cardiovascular drug, may improve heart failure and help prevent sudden death

Carvedilol may improve heart failure and help prevent sudden death

Support for heart implants to be returned to manufacturers after death

MRI measurements of scar tissue accurately predict the risk of arrhythmia-related sudden death

Defibrillators plentiful in schools but not senior centers

Defibrillator implantations performed by physicians with low volume are more likely to have adverse outcomes

Innovative new treatment for moderate to severe heart failure

Study - no effect of fish oil on life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia

Guidant receives FDA approval to re-enter heart failure market

Surgical myectomy gives fresh start to patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Faulty defibrillators may mean surgery for thousands of cardiac patients

Fish oil not a good idea for heart defibrillator patients

Fish oil does not lower risk of serious heart rhythm abnormalities for patients with implantable defibrillators

Call for better monitoring of new devices after sudden death of college student

Guidant admits, three years down the line, to a fault with internal heart defibrillator

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

Defibrillator News and Research

Latest Defibrillator News and Research

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

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