Cross-disciplinary teams of scientists studying genetic pathways that are mutated in many forms of cancer, but which also cause certain forms of congenital heart disease — including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a thickening of the heart musc…
Philadelphia, PA, February 8, 2011 — For the one in 200 adults in Western societies born with congenital heart disease, adult survivors face a lifelong process of medical interactions. Treatments received during neonatal, childhood, and adolescent…
PORTLAND, Ore. — The pediatric cardiac team at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children’s Hospital is the first in the region and one of a handful in the nation to implant a pulmonary heart valve without open-heart surgery.
To date…
Visionaries in the field of cardiac therapeutics have long looked to the future when a damaged heart could be rebuilt or repaired by using one’s own heart cells. A study published in the February issue of Circulation, a scientific journal of the Ame…
Visionaries in the field of cardiac therapeutics have long looked to the future when a damaged heart could be rebuilt or repaired by using one’s own heart cells. A study published in the February issue of Circulation, a scientific journal of the …
When prenatal diagnosis detects the severe heart defect hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in a fetus, a comprehensive prenatal evaluation is important to provide parents an accurate prognosis. In HLHS, one of the heart’s pumping chambers is sev…
Adults with congenital heart disease are more likely to suffer heart-focused anxiety — a fear of heart-related symptoms and sensations — if their parents were overprotective during their childhood and adolescence. Dr. Lephuong Ong from Orion Hea…
A new approach to evaluating a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, high blood pressure, or heart failure is reported this month in the International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management. The technique uses fuzzy logic to tea…
Researchers from the Congenital Cardiovascular Interventional Study Consortium (CCISC) who evaluated the intermediate and long-term results of stent implantation for aortic coarctation found that cumulative intermediate success was 86%, and cumulati…
Repairing small, seemingly benign holes in a child’s heart may be more clinically important than previously thought, as dysfunction could be lurking out of sight. These are the findings from a study conducted by doctors and researchers at Nationwide…
Using a multiple-gene analysis technique, German researchers have gained new insights into specific genetic alterations that lead to congenital heart defects, according to a report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The technique, called microarray analysis, allowed investigators to identify specific patterns of gene expression in the entire human genome associated with common types of congenital heart defects. They sought to demonstrate the feasibility of using gene array analysis to study congenital heart defects. But their findings could represent an early step toward developing effective strategies to improve the quality of life in children and adults with heart defects.
While type 1 Neurofibromatosis (NF1) is primarily known to cause tumors of the nervous system, scientists were puzzled as to why patients with NF1 are also prone to cardiovascular problems such as hypertension and congenital heart disease. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have solved this particular part of the puzzle by showing how the Nf1 gene – which is mutated in those suffering from Neurofibromatosis – is also essential in endothelial cells, the cells that make up blood vessels.