In Global News: Heart Transplant 50th Anniversary and Making a Cheaper Robot [1]
Patient Care
December 3rd is the 50th anniversary of the first human heart transplantation [3], and the occasion is being commemorated with an event in Cape Town [4] and writing about the historic event [5].
The president of Brazil had stents placed [6] for coronary artery obstructions over the weekend.
The first transcatheter implantation of a retrievable aortic valve in China [7] 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 [8].
Boston Scientific announced that it will indefinitely delay seeking US Food and Drug Administration approval for its Lotus Edge [9] transcatheter valve.
Puerto Rico’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Maria could affect surgical device supplies [10].
The European Medicines Agency will move from London to Amsterdam [11].
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 [12] 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 [13].
A new imaging technology could provide higher resolution views of important tissues [14] in minimally invasive surgery.
Biomedical engineers from Duke University in North Carolina, US, have implanted patches of induced cardiomyocytes onto rodent hearts [15]; the implants showed near mature electrical and mechanical function.