June 7th, 2008
Heart transplants save the lives of more than 2,100 Americans every year. But many more patients are still waiting for a new heart to become available, and hundreds will die without ever getting a second chance at life.
With that being said researchers are asking the question, “will heart transplants become a thing of the past?” […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 1 comment
April 20th, 2008
How cool is this? A minimally-invasive transcatheter valve replacement procedure has been developed and tested for patients with congenital heart disease. And guess what? It doesn’t involve open heart surgery.
Many times patients that are born with such congenital heart diseases as right ventricular outflow tract and they face many procedures and surgeries, which usually […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 1 comment
December 13th, 2007
Oh boy, I get so darn excited when I read anything about the progress of stem cell research. Yes, you know which side of the debate I sit on. Scientists are getting closer and closer to the use of stem cells to help rejuvenate damaged cardiac tissue!
The two major hurdles that needed to be tackled […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 0 comments
December 4th, 2007
The first heart transplant was 40 years ago and the patient lasted a little over 2 weeks. That may not have been lengthy but it sure was ground breaking. Now 4 decades later we are performing less and less heart transplants. Why?
Could it be the ability to keep very sick hearts alive and working effectively […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 0 comments
December 3rd, 2007
Man oh man! I feel like there is always some sort of research pointing to some other type of research that has already been accepted and totally disagrees with what we have been doing for years. Do you follow? hahah.
It seems that now researchers are suggesting that transfusions among bypass surgery patients are not as […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 0 comments
October 23rd, 2007
Just a follow up to my last post about congenital heart disease… While searching through for images that portray congenital heart defects, I can across a few websites. I have to admit, after 2 minutes I was in tears. Not just boo hoo tears, but full out sobbing. Why was the only word that passed […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 1 comment
September 3rd, 2007
A Heart failure pump has been developed to assist those patients awaiting their gift of life. I really do hope that this is a success.
The pump is implanted into the patient’s body and pumps blood from the weakened left ventricle to the rest of the body at the same rate as a healthy heart. […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 0 comments
June 23rd, 2007
How do you get around that very ethical debate of using stem cells from embryonic tissue? Well, how about using your own. This application of stem cell transplants is currently being researched in diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. And we can now add damaged heart tissue to the list…
British scientists are to try […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 2 comments
May 17th, 2007
Protected by its own nutrients and blood supply, a beating heart supported by an investigational organ preservation device was successfully transplanted into a 47-year-old man with congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension on Sunday, April 8.
Very cool stuff! This pioneering surgery took place at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine using a heart […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 0 comments
May 14th, 2007
“I never thought I would get to see this mother’s day,” Stacey says.
What we don’t go through for our children! On this day, a Pennsylvania mommy celebrates what she thought might not ever come, her first mother’s day. Stacey Doyle delivered her first born son, Owen, last May. The days that […]
By Kendra James, RN -- 1 comment
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