Heart Transplantation
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Reading: Heart
Transplantation
(by Mario C. Deng)
Advanced heart
failure is an increasing epidemiological problem wordwide.
Cardiac transplantation has become the gold standard treatment
in selected patients during the last 25 years and is
increasingly restricted to patients at greatest risk of dying.
Alternative treatments include neurohormonal blockers and
mechanical support devices.
>>
learn more about heart transplantation
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New Options for Heart Transplant Rejection Monitoring
The genomics revolution ushered in by the completion of the Human Genome Project has made
possible what was only dreamed about before-namely the ability to detect rejection of the transplanted
heart without taking a tissue sample. Non invasive monitoring using a molecular test may become an
alternative option to detect cardiac allograft rejection.
>> learn more
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Reading: The Grateful Heart
(by Candace C. Moose, RN, Heart Transplant Recipient)
Candace received immunizations in August 2001 before traveling to Malawi, to help children
suffering from AIDS. She fell prey to a rare and generally fatal disease. She received a heart
transplant and decided to tell her history as an expression of her faith and gratefulness.
>> Take me to the book
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Invasive
Monitoring Attenuation through Gene Expression "IMAGE" Clinical
Trial
The Invasive
Monitoring Attenuation through Gene Expression (IMAGE)
multicenter study is enrolling stable heart transplant
recipients 12-60 months after heart transplantation. The
hypothesis to be tested is that gene-expression-based (AlloMap
Molecular test) monitoring is not inferior to biopsy-based
monitoring. The design is 1:1-randomization to either
gene-Expression based or biopsy-based monitoring strategy and
follow-up for >1 year (PI: Dr. Mario C. Deng)
>> learn more
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Advanced Heart Failure and
Mechanical Circulatory Support |
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Reading: Mechanical
Circulatory Support Therapy in Advanced Heart Failure
(by Mario C Deng &
Yoshifumi Naka)
Situations in which
a patient with advanced heart failure is evaluated as well as
cared for before and after implantation of mechanical
circulatory support devices have to be described in a
complementary way by professional teams and their patients. The
"Mechanical Circulatory Support Therapy in Advanced Heart
Failure" book provides a state-of-the-art overview of mechanical
circulatory support devices and their role in the care of
patients with advanced heart failure. Evidence-based medicine
perspectives of expert cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, nurses,
coordinators, social workers, psychologists, physical
therapists, and equally important, of our patients and their
relatives, are portrayed.
>> Take me to the book
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The Myocarditis
Foundation
Myocarditis is a
disease marked by inflammation and damage of the heart muscle.
Although the exact incidence of myocarditis is not known, it is
estimated that several thousand patients per year are diagnosed
in the United States. Myocarditis usually attacks otherwise
healthy people. It is believed that 5 to 20% of all cases of
sudden death in young adults are due to myocarditis. There are
many causes of myocarditis, including viral infections,
autoimmune diseases, environmental toxins, and adverse reactions
to medications. The prognosis is variable but chronic heart
failure is the major long term complication. Myocarditis and the
associated disorder of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy are the
cause of approximately 45% of heart transplantation in the
United States.
The Myocarditis
Foundation is dedicated to providing accurate and up-to-date
information to medical professionals, patients and their
families, and to the scientific advancement of both the
diagnosis and treatment of the disease with the goal of saving
more lives.
>>
Learn about Myocarditis
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