In Global News: Donating Pacemakers, Surgical Pumpkin-Carving Contest, and PCI Versus Placebo [1]
Patient Care
Ambulances specially tailored to respond to cardiac emergencies [3] 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 [4].
Getting into the Halloween spirit and showing off their gourd-slicing skills, surgeons competitively carved pumpkins [5] in Phoenix, Arizona.
Drugs and Devices
Doctors at the General Hospital of Mexico in Mexico City have safely reused sterilized donated pacemakers [6] 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 [7], the most recent move to strengthen regulatory collaboration between the US and EU.
Trastuzumab did not worsen cardiac function [8] 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 [9] when compared to patients receiving continuous analgesics.
Neuromuscular blockade might not always be necessary [10] 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 [11] 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 [12] or a placebo procedure.