In Global News: Donating Pacemakers, Surgical Pumpkin-Carving Contest, and PCI Versus Placebo

Patient Care
Ambulances specially tailored to respond to cardiac emergencies will go into service in Goa, India, at the beginning of 2018.
The cardiac team at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa, has launched a research project focused on improving treatment of idiopathic dilating cardiomyopathy.
Getting into the Halloween spirit and showing off their gourd-slicing skills, surgeons competitively carved pumpkins in Phoenix, Arizona.
 
Drugs and Devices
Doctors at the General Hospital of Mexico in Mexico City have safely reused sterilized donated pacemakers for 33 patients who could not afford a new device.
The US Food and Drug Administration will now recognize good manufacturing practice inspections done by eight European Union drug regulators, the most recent move to strengthen regulatory collaboration between the US and EU.
Trastuzumab did not worsen cardiac function when added to chemotherapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.
 
Research, Trials, and Funding
Pediatric cardiac surgery patients receiving intermittent postsurgical dosing of morphine and midazolam show similar pain relief and shorter length of stay when compared to patients receiving continuous analgesics.
Neuromuscular blockade might not always be necessary during cardiac surgery, and researchers at the University of Chicago are seeking to determine if avoiding it reduces postsurgical pulmonary complications.
Ventricular assist devices might provide better survival than extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for children awaiting heart transplantation.
A randomized trial published in The Lancet finds that 230 patients with stable angina had similar symptom relief whether they received a percutaneous coronary intervention or a placebo procedure.