In Global News: Smallest Heart Valve for Infants, a Modified TAVR Valve for TMVR, and Thoracic Outlet Surgery Fashion

Patient Care
Carter Capps, a pitcher for professional baseball team the San Diego Padres, has made himself a necklace out of the rib surgeons removed during his thoracic outlet surgery.
A Connecticut, USA, man gets some experimental and synergistic help from a bacteriophage and antibiotic to treat a persistent infection in his aortic graft.
 
Drugs and Devices
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the world’s smallest mechanical heart valve for pediatric patients, a 15 mm Masters Series Heart Valve from Abbott.
Durvalumab from AstraZeneca has been approved by the US FDA for patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer; this follows the publication of a randomized trial showing superiority of durvalumab over placebo following chemotherapy.
 
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers from Vancouver, Canada, presented their early experience with the Sapien M3, a transcatheter mitral valve replacement device that caught the attention of attendees at the recent Cardiovascular Research Technologies meeting.
The use of lung cancer treatment modalities varies by geographic region across the UK, according to research published in Thorax, and the researchers say this could be negatively affecting patient survival in regions with lower treatment rates.
In Indiana, USA, the first patient has been enrolled in the EVAS2 IDE Confirmatory Clinical Study of the Nellix EndoVascular Aneurysm Sealing System from Endologix.