In Global News: Heart Transplant 50th Anniversary and Making a Cheaper Robot

Patient Care
December 3rd is the 50th anniversary of the first human heart transplantation, and the occasion is being commemorated with an event in Cape Town and writing about the historic event.
The president of Brazil had stents placed for coronary artery obstructions over the weekend.
The first transcatheter implantation of a retrievable aortic valve in China occurred at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University.
 
Drugs and Devices
A UK-based company is developing a more mobile, more affordable surgical robot.
Boston Scientific announced that it will indefinitely delay seeking US Food and Drug Administration approval for its Lotus Edge transcatheter valve.
Puerto Rico’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Maria could affect surgical device supplies.
The European Medicines Agency will move from London to Amsterdam.
 
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, in the US, find that lobectomy for early stage lung cancer provides better survival than stereotactic body radiation therapy.
A review of randomized controlled trials in pediatric heart surgery suggests that many studies do not provide sufficiently robust evidence.
A new imaging technology could provide higher resolution views of important tissues in minimally invasive surgery.
Biomedical engineers from Duke University in North Carolina, US, have implanted patches of induced cardiomyocytes onto rodent hearts; the implants showed near mature electrical and mechanical function.