FDA NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: July 2, 2009
Contact: Sandy Walsh, 301-796-4669, sandy.walsh@fda.hhs.gov

FDA Approves Multaq to Treat Heart Rhythm Disorder
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Multaq tablets (dronedarone) to help maintain normal heart rhythms in patients with a history of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (heart rhythm disorders). The drug is approved to be used in patients whose hearts have returned to normal rhythm or who will undergo drug or electric-shock treatment to restore a normal heart beat.

Multaq may cause critical adverse reactions, including death, in patients with recent severe heart failure. The drug’s label will contain a boxed warning, th...

 

Just saw this on recall of Medronic PM. Site has a phone # to call for more info.

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/Safety
AlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm165711.htm

Janet

 

Heard about this on the 11PM news tonight:

Medtronic link:

http://www.medtronic.com/kappasigma/patient.html
-----
CNNMoney.com story:

Medtronic Inc. (MDT) on Monday sent doctors around the world a letter telling them about potential issues with wires in some older pacemakers that affects about 37,000 devices and may lead doctors to remove and replace some of them.

The issues covered in the "Dear Doctor" letter involves a small fraction of the more than 1.7 million "Kappa" and "Sigma" pacemakers implanted in the last 12 years. The letter included a new problem with both pacemakers and an issue with Sigma devices that was first identified in 2005 but has caused a higher- than-expected fa...

 

I found an interested article at that may interest other members. The full article can be found at www.theheart.org/article/962057.do 

Here are some excerts.

In an analysis of data from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) Registry, investigators showed that ICD implantations by nonelectrophysiologists (non-EPs) are associated with a higher rate of procedural complications and that patients are less likely to receive cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillation (CRT-D), when compared with board-certified electrophysiologists (EPs)...

"As far as I know, there are no nationa...

 

Awesome.

http://tinyurl.com/c3u2lq

 

Oh happy day. We will soon be getting a "one size fits all" pill called a polypill. One that contains five medicines, a beta blocker, an ace inhibitor, a diuretic, a statin and aspirin.

Forget the fact that one person's need for different amounts of one of these medicines may differ from that of another person, you are all going to get the same amounts. I say you are all going to get the same amount because old Smitty is not going to take that thing.

I don't care how many trials they have run. I'm sure it has possibilities for simplifying the doctor's work, but I also see it as a good way to increase the business of the undertaker.

One of the reasons I will not take the medicine Plavix...

 

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/03/28/new-device-treats-common-heart-rhythm-disorder.html

(Copy & Paste to your Browser)

 

I recently read this article in the National Post and thought I would share it. The idea is so simple, I had just assumed it was automatically being done.

---

Airline pilots have used them for years as a proven method to make flying less dangerous. Now there is evidence that surgical staff can dramatically curb the amount of harm they inadvertently do to patients simply by working through checklists before, during and after operations.

Employing a standard checklist slashes the number of serious complications and deaths from surgery by more than a third, an international study published Wednesday by hospitals in Toronto and seven other cities concluded.

The concept could have a huge impact if in...

 

By Alex Nussbaum
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- A beating heart's excess energy was tapped by British scientists in a first step toward extending the life of batteries that power pacemakers and other medical devices.

A generator inserted into a pig's heart on the tip of a wire produced 4.3 microjoules of electricity, about a fifth the energy needed to fuel a pacemaker and enough to help recharge its battery, researchers said in a study released at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in New Orleans.
Defibrillators and pacemakers are pager-sized devices implanted in the chest to shock faulty hearts back into rhythm. Newer versions track blood oxygen levels, temperature and other data, but advances have been limited...

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4A81SS20081109

 

Saw this article you all might be interested in!

http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=19798

 

From TIME and CNN

Heart disease is often referred to as the leading cause of death in the U.S. — but in fact, nobody dies of heart disease, because there is no such thing. "Heart disease" is a catchall term that includes coronary artery disease, heart failure and cardiomyopathy (just as "lung disease" includes asthma, emphysema and lung cancer). It doesn't include heart attack, though, because a heart attack can be the result of one kind of heart disease or the cause of another — but isn't technically a disease itself.

If that sounds confusing, it's because the heart is only part, though obviously the most important part, of the cardiovascular system, which includes not only the heart itself but also the blood vessel...

 

By Debbie Gilbert

For people with heart problems, having an implanted cardiac pacemaker can be a lifesaver. But there’s a big disadvantage: If you need a magnetic resonance imaging test to diagnose an illness or injury, you can’t have it.
And it’s not for the reason you might think.

"Metal itself is not the problem," said Dr. Karthik Ramaswamy, a cardiac electrophysiologist with Northeast Georgia Heart Center.

People with certain types of metal objects inside their bodies, such as steel rods, plates or staples, cannot have an MRI because the machine contains gigantic magnets that could actually pull these objects out.

In recent years, most medic...

 

Sign me up! :-)

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/6762/

 

Copy and paste link into browser


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HEART_DEVICES?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

Are you tired of trying to get information about your heart condition from your cardiologist? Well take a look at what's available on EBay.

PORTABLE HANDHELD ECG EKG HEART MONITOR, NEW - Item number: 130220551045

Get the optional USB cable for only $7 extra and it will download the data to your PC and the software which will diagnose the data and give you your condition. The optional software ($35) will include 13 extra different types of arrhythmias. Looks pretty darn interesting.

This has to be a cardiologist's worst nightmare. A patient with the ability to have "do it your self EKG" and the software to give them a diagnosis.

Wonder when we will be able to get a do it yourself pacemaker ki...

 

I am sure some of you are on the drug DIGITEK. If you are not aware, it has been recalled. Check with you Pharmacist, your Doctor, go on-line at www.actavis.us or call 888-276-6166 for more information

 

So a man went to jail, and he was in his cell, when someone said 34, and the whole hall erupts in laughter. The man asked his cellmate what was so funny. he answered, '' Well, weve all been here so long, that instead of telling the jokes, we numbered them. try it.''. so the man says ''72'', and everyone is silent. the man asked his cellmate what was wrong, and he answered '' well, some can tell 'em, and some can't''.

 

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) - Implanted heart
defibrillators, which automatically shock a fluttering heart
back into a normal rhythm, can be hacked from the outside, U.S.
researchers reported on Wednesday.

There is no immediate danger to patients, the team of computer experts, electrical engineers and cardiologists
said.

But they made one Medtronic Inc device give up
patient information off its computer chip, got it to fire
improperly, and ran its battery down, all using inexpensive
equipment.

They offered a way to fix these weaknesses and said they
were publishing their findings not to frighten patie...

click to read more...

 

I found this article in Reader's Digest, and I was so fascinated that I had to share it with you.
In the near future, there will be a new protein, like a seed that causes new vessels to sprout, creating a network of capillaries and small arteries.
Could that be the end of open heart bypass surgery, or a cure for CHF?
Please read on.

~ Dominique ~

New Treatment for Heart Transplant Hopefuls
An experimental treatment is giving desperately ill heart patients a new lease on life.
By Lisa Collier Cool
From Reader's Digest
February 2008

Last Resort

Jim Blevins and Gail Keller were heart patients who'd run out of time. They had literally no options left—until they volu...