In Global News: Quadruple Valve Surgery in the UAE, MitraClip Access in Japan, and Chewbacca Delivers Transplant News [1]
Patient Care
A teen in Chicago, Illinois, USA, awaiting a heart transplant received the news that a heart was available from his pediatric cardiologist, who dressed up as Chewbacca from Star Wars [3] just for the occasion.
Surgeons in the UAE replaced all four heart valves [4] in a man with infective endocarditis.
A hospital system based in Delaware, USA, plans to launch an app to help monitor infants born with a single ventricle [5] when they are discharged from the hospital after surgery.
Drugs and Devices
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has granted national reimbursement for the MitraClip™ [6] from Abbott, a move that will make the technology more accessible through the country’s health insurance system.
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers from the Netherlands presented a proof-of-concept study at the recent European Heart Rhythm Association meeting, showing that putting light-sensitive ion channels into the heart allows it to terminate arrhythmias itself [7] in response to a pulse of light.
Reports of severe myocarditis after cancer treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors are increasing [8], say researchers from the US and France, and they speculate that this is due both to increased use of these drugs and heightened awareness of this complication.