Journal and News Scan

Patient Care

The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology released an updated definition of high blood pressure this week.

Heart patients in Malaysia seem to be successfully reducing their cholesterol levels, though cholesterol levels are still on the rise in the general population.

A lung surgeon discusses the immediate and long-term effects of air pollution in Delhi, India.

Drugs and Devices

Medtronic presented 30-day outcomes from the pilot study for its Intrepid™ transcatheter mitral valve replacement system, which indicate successful implantation in nearly all patients and reduced regurgitation.

Four cardiac health monitoring apps and devices received recent approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The US FDA will now permit an electric stimulation device to be marketed for opioid withdrawal, though the device is contraindicated in patients with cardiac pacemakers.

Research, Trials, and Funding

Lungs from donors over 60 years old might be suitable for patients who need double lung transplants.

Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, highlight the importance of psychosocial factors in health as they report high financial stress is associated with 13-fold higher odds of having a heart attack.

The incoming issue of the Journal comes with an interesting group of papers revolving around a provocative topic: work from Seattle on the absence of predictive value of standard pulmonary function tests in LVAD surgery.  Vivek Rao takes the opportunity to present his thoughts in this brief editorial, the important central message of which cannot be ignored.

An enthusiastic yet balanced and succinct editorial on the occasion of a small series with short follow-up and absolute survival of ECMO-supported recipients of pulmonary transplantation (mostly with interstitial fibrosis) with short waiting time after ECMO (less than 16 days). The key word is 'selection.'  It is also worth contemplating whether placing a lung transplant candidate on ECMO expedites the donation and implantation, and the ramifications of that in terms of manipulating the waiting lists.

With the impressive average of 150 mitral repairs annually for the last 16 years (possibly a world record, even more impressive given the population of Portugal), the Coimbra team led by Antunes reflects on six cases of circumflex artery injury, mostly in non-right dominant anatomy as expected.