By Jasmine Youngblood
PADUCAH, KY — It’s a celebration of a second chance at life.
One Paducah man, Michael Grief, has made history as the longest living heart transplant recipient in the country, according to Vanderbilt University.
Friday, he and his family and friends celebrated the 40-year anniversary of the surgery that saved his life. Check out the full story in WPSD Local 6 News.
By Regina Shaffer
Data from a population-based study show more than half of all Hispanic or Latino adults who experienced sudden cardiac arrest had a prior diagnosis of chronic kidney disease, with 20% on dialysis, researchers reported.
In an analysis of more than 1,400 adults (27% Hispanic or Latino) who had a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and more than 3,000 Hispanic or Latino controls, researchers also found that existing CVD, including stroke, atrial fibrillation, CAD and HF, as well as heavy drinking and type 2 diabetes, were also predictors of SCA. Read more in Healio.
By Matt Batcheldor
In early 2020, Vanderbilt’s heart transplant program was among the first in the country to begin performing transplants using hearts from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors. Similar to DBD (donation after brain death) donors, DCD donors have sustained devastating, non-recoverable neurologic injury.
Unlike DBD donors, however, DCD donors don’t yet meet formal brain death criteria – as such, the methods that are used for withdrawal of donor life support and surgical retrieval of DCD versus DBD organs differs. Read the full article in the VUMC Reporter.
By Regina Schaffer
Data suggest psychosocial stressors at work, including job strain and effort-reward imbalance, independently raise CVD risk for men and could pose a risk for heart health in women, though that evidence remains inconclusive.
“Our study underscores the importance of addressing psychosocial factors in the workplace as potential contributors to coronary heart disease risk,” Mathilde Lavigne-Robichaud, RD, MSc, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology affiliated with the population health and optimal health practices research unit of CHU de Quebec-University Laval Research Center in Laval, Quebec, Canada, told Healio. Read the full story in Healio.
By Regina Schaffer
Adults who reported climbing more than five flights of stairs daily were 20% less likely to develop atherosclerotic CVD over 12 years compared with those who reported never climbing stairs, according to data from a UK Biobank analysis.
“Short bursts of high-intensity stair climbing are a time-efficient way to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and lipid profile, especially among those unable to achieve the current physical activity recommendations,” Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA, HCA Regents Distinguished Chair and professor in the department of epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues wrote in the study background. Read more in Healio.
By Pauline Anderson
There are no significant differences in 1-year mortality, survival to hospital discharge, severe primary graft dysfunction (PGD), and other outcomes post heart transplant between patients who receive a heart obtained by donation after circulatory death (DCD) and patients who receive a heart by donation after brain death (DBD), a new study has shown. Read the full article in Medscape.
By Nicole Lou
Scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can directly infiltrate atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries and trigger an inflammatory response, providing one mechanism for how COVID-19 infection can lead to cardiovascular complications in some people.
Directly infected atherosclerotic tissue was found in both people who died with severe COVID-19 and underlying atherosclerosis and an ex vivo model of human vascular explants.
Read the complete article in MedPage Today.
By Regina Shaffer
Adults with HF on optimized guideline-directed medical therapy had improvements in quality of life measures and functional status after participating in a yoga therapy program for 1 year, researchers reported.
“Yoga is a combination of mind-body techniques, which is a set of physical exercises [asana] with breathing techniques [pranayama], relaxation and meditation that can be effectively used to stimulate physical and mental well-being,” Ajit Singh, PhD, research scientist for the Indian Council for Medical Research at Kasturba Medical College & Hospital, Manipal Academy of Heart Education in Manipal, India, said in a press release. Read the complete article in Healio.
By Regina Schaffer
Four professional cardiovascular societies announced a push to create an independent board for cardiovascular medicine, part of an effort to simplify a competency process for cardiologists that has recently been a source of controversy.
The proposed new board would be independent of the American Board of Internal Medicine, where the cardiology certification process currently exists. In a press release, the American College of Cardiology, Heart Failure Society of America, Heart Rhythm Society, and Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions announced they are jointly preparing to submit a new board application, with potential for additional consortium members to join. Read the full article in Healio.
By Jessica Albert
BALTIMORE – Doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine performed its second groundbreaking transplant of a genetically modified pig heart.
The transplant was given to a man from Frederick who had been rejected from all other transplant centers because of pre-existing conditions.
We are told the patient is breathing on his own and his new heart is working without any assistance. Read the full story from WJZ CBS News Baltimore.