In Global News: World Heart Day, Treating Rheumatic Heart Disease in Rwanda, and TAVR Versus SAVR at TCT [1]
Patient Care and General Interest
Saturday, September 29 is World Heart Day [3]! This year’s theme is “My Heart, Your Heart.”
Gerald D. Buckberg, MD, a renowned heart surgeon who made a major contribution in the field of myocardial protection, recently passed away.
Team Heart, a group of medical volunteers, visits Rwanda once a year to perform life-saving valve replacement procedures caused by rheumatic heart disease [4], which is prevalent in many African and Asian countries.
An atrial fibrillation procedure performed on a keen Hong Kong-based marathon runner saved him from a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm and gave him renewed energy when training [4].
Research
Data presented at the recent TCT 2018 conference indicates that patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis and high risk of operative mortality who underwent TAVR had similar 5-year survival and stroke rates compared with those who underwent SAVR [5].
A study published in Pediatric Research indicates that neonates with congenital heart disease tend to have enlarged kidneys [6].
The BMI journal Heart has published research suggesting a link between mitral valve prolapse – a common condition – and sudden cardiac death [7].