Journal and News Scan

Patient Care and General Interest

Coal miners in central Appalachia in the US have an increasing incidence of severe black lung disease and an associated increased need for lung transplantation.

Five people have received free cardiac surgery at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in Ikeja, Nigeria, in collaboration with the VOOM foundation.

In news related to heart-healthy diets, adhering to a Mediterranean diet seemes to temper the negative cardiovascular effects of air pollution, and regular, moderate chocolate consumption is associated with reduced risk of atrial fibrillation.

Drugs and Devices

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a class I recall for the HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist System from Abbott.

Vestagen Protective Technologies has received clearance for its Vestex® Active Barrier daily-wear scrubs as a class II medical device from the US FDA for the fabric’s reduced MRSA accumulation.

Research, Trials, and Funding

Researchers in Germany find no evidence that electromagnetic field strength from electric cars interferes with cardiac implantable electronic devices.

Researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland are using computer simulations to predict the structural changes that will occur in bioengineered heart valves after they are implanted in sheep, with the goal of using those predictions to design customized regenerative heart valves with greater durability.

Over 1200 patients with stable coronary artery disease and at least one angiographically-significant stenosis were randomized to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) plus medical therapy or medical therapy alone for lesions with fractional flow reserve (FFR) <0.8.  FFR-guided PCI was associated with a significantly reduced composite outcome (death, myocardial infarction, or urgent revascularization).  Patients without hemodynamically significant lesions had good outcomes on medical therapy alone.

This is among the first and largest summaries of the use of neoadjuvant PD-1 inhibitor (nivolumab) in patients with resectable lung cancer.  The safety profile was adequate, 20 of 21 patients underwent complete resection, and the pathologic major response rate was 45%.   The response was similar regardless of PD-L1 status, and response was related to tumor mutational burden.  

Using eight computed tomography radiographic features in an automated algorithm, differentiating between benign and malignant status of indeterminate pulmonary nodules had an area under the curve of 0.939.