Structural Heart Disease

Structural heart diseases include any issues preventing normal cardiovascular function due to damage or alteration to the anatomical components of the heart. This is caused by aging, advanced atherosclerosis, calcification, tissue degeneration, congenital heart defects and heart failure. The most commonly treated areas are the heart valves, in particular the mitral and aortic valves. These can be replaced through open heart surgery or using cath lab-based transcatheter valves or repairs to eliminate regurgitation due to faulty valve leaflets. This includes transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Other common procedures include left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion and closing congenital holes in the heart, such as PFO and ASD. A growing area includes transcatheter mitral repair or replacement and transcatheter tricuspid valve repair and replacement.

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Think green: Meta-analysis sees BP benefit in plant-based diets

A study published online Feb. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine added yet more ammunition to the argument, “Eat your vegetables.” The meta-analysis found an association between vegetarian diets and lower blood pressure (BP) compared with omnivorous diets.

Compound improves cardiac function in mice with genetic heart defect, MU study finds

Congenital heart disease is the most common form of birth defect, affecting one out of every 125 babies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Researchers from the University of Missouri recently found success using a drug to treat laboratory mice with one form of congenital heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a weakening of the heart caused by abnormally thick muscle. By suppressing a faulty protein, the researchers reduced the thickness of the mice's heart muscles and improved their cardiac functioning.

American Heart Association awards Loyola $438,740 for cardiac research

The American Heart Association has awarded Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine $438,740 for cardiac research in 2013, bringing the lifetime total the organization has awarded to Loyola to $10.6 million.

TAVR offers only modest benefits in some realms

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) may confer only modest psychological and general health benefits, according to a systematic review published Feb. 18 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. 

NICE backs lower-risk threshold for statin treatment

People with a 10 percent or greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in 10 years should be treated with high-intensity statins, the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended in draft guidelines published Feb. 12. This is a change from the previous guideline that recommended treatment for people with a 20 percent or greater risk. 

Million Hearts: Aching at the midpoint?

About midway in its five-year plan, the Million Hearts Initiative may have to pick up the pace if it hopes to achieve its goal for blood pressure control, based on a report released Feb. 14 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

UTHealth, Memorial Hermann perform state’s first conscious sedation TAVR procedure

A team of interventional cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute-Texas Medical Center performed Texas’ first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) under conscious sedation using the Edwards Sapien valve.

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals' JUXTAPID (lomitapide) capsules approved in Canada for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH)

Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for patients with debilitating rare diseases, today announced that Health Canada has granted a Notice of Compliance (NOC) approving JUXTAPID as an adjunct to a low-fat diet and other lipid-lowering drugs, with or without LDL apheresis, to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in adult patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH).

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