Heart News
First ‘reanimated’ heart
transplant takes place in US
Method keeps heart functional after donor’s death and could
increase the number of organs suitable for transplantation
A
new method of “reanimating” donor hearts from those who have
died from cardiac failure is currently being tested in the United
States.
A heart transplant team at Duke University Hospital became the first in
the country to transplant an adult heart into a recipient through a process
known as donation after circulatory death, or DCD.
Duke is one of five centres American health authorities have given
approval to perform DCD heart transplants as part of a recently launched
clinical trial of a device to circulate warm, oxygenated blood through
organs.
Traditionally, heart donations have depended on a declaration of
brain death. Donation after circulatory death occurs after the heart has
stopped beating and the person’s death has been declared.
DCD transplantation is done regularly in the US for organs other than
the heart, though DCD heart transplants have been conducted in Europe
and Australia.
“This procedure has the potential to expand the donor pool by up to
30 percent,” said Dr Jacob Schroder, surgical director of Duke’s Heart
Transplant Program, in a press release.
“Increasing the number of donated hearts would decrease the waiting
time and the number of deaths that occur while people are waiting.
“It’s important to conduct this clinical trial to determine whether those
outcomes are realised. We’re grateful for the courage and generosity of
both the donors and recipients,” he added.
The DCD heart transplantation milestone took place in January after a
donated heart was deemed viable for transplant. The recipient, a military
veteran, is reported to be recovering well.
28
MARCH 2020
New evidence that
diabetes drug can raise
risk of heart attack
While still on the market, rosiglitazone, or
Avandia, is already banned or restricted in
many countries
A
rigorous study has confirmed that the drug
rosiglitazone given to diabetes patients can raise
the risk of heart attack by 33 percent.
Approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration in 1999 under the brand name
Avandia, it was originally developed to treat type 2
diabetes.
Though its use has been restricted in the US
and suspended in Europe due to concerns about
its harmful effects on heart health, research into its
safety had hitherto yielded mixed results.
Given the large number of patients treated for
diabetes across America, drugs with even modest
cardiovascular risks can have major public health
implications.
Seeking a definitive answer, Yale researchers
used the most reliable data available to investigate
the effects of the drug on cardiovascular health.
Using individual patient records from 33 clinical
trials, a team from the Department of Environmental
Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health
examined the outcomes of “acute myocardial
infarction, heart failure, cardiovascular-related death,
and noncardiovascular-related death.”
Their analysis revealed a 33 percent higher risk
of cardiovascular death for people who were taking
the drug, compared with people who were taking
another control substance, including placebo.
“The results suggest that rosiglitazone is
associated with an increased cardiovascular risk,
especially for heart failure events,” the researchers
concluded in The BMJ.
“Almost 20 years after the drug was approved,
uncertainties still exist among patients, clinicians,
and policy makers about the effect of the drug on the
risk of myocardial infarction.”
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com