Keeping you up to date on recent headlines in cardiovascular healthcare:

Hopkins study: Mock CPR drills finds failure in key skills . . . . A study from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center (Baltimore) shows what researchers called "alarming gaps" in training hospital residents in first response treatment of cardio-respiratory arrests in children. In mock cardio-pulmonary arrests with dummies, 24 of 70 residents in the drills never started chest compressions; 46 did so with a delay of over one minute, the cutoff time to initiate compressions in a child without a pulse. Nearly half (46%) failed to restore heart rhythm using a defibrillator within the recommended three minutes. Research shows that 14% of all arrests in hospitalized children are cardiac in origin, and many respiratory arrests quickly evolve into cardiac arrests. Thus, the Hopkins researchers call for a shift in focus that would equally emphasize cardiac maneuvers along with airway ventilation. The study will appear in the July issue of Resuscitation.
(www.hopkinschildrens.org/Mock_CPR_Drills_in_Kids_Show_Many-Residents-Fail-In-Key-Skills.aspx)

UPMC recruits for severe coronary heart disease study . . . . The Cardiovascular Institute of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is enrolling participants for a Phase II trial to study whether a naturally occurring protein improves blood supply to the cardiac muscle in patients with severe coronary artery disease. The Angiogenesis for the Treatment of Coronary Heart Disease (ACORD) study is a randomized placebo-controlled trial comparing the use of a protein at three dose levels with a placebo. The trial is designed to see whether FGF-1 can help patients and, if so, at what dosage. The therapy is delivered to the heart by threading a catheter through an incision in the upper leg.
(www.upmc.com/Services/CardiacServices/Programs/Cardiology/Pages/AdvancedHeartFailureCenter.aspx)

Heart improves after low-dose of 'off-the-shelf' stem cells . . . . Mesoblast (Melbourne, Australia) reported positive three-month interim results from the first 20 patients enrolled in a Phase II heart failure trial of its allogeneic "off-the-shelf" stem cell product Revascor. Three months after a single injection into damaged heart muscle of the lowest dose, patients with moderate-to-severe congestive heart failure (CHF) had significantly improved heart muscle function. The placebo-controlled trial is being run at centers in the U.S. by Mesoblast's associated company, Angioblast Systems (New York). The trial is comparing one of three increasing doses of Revascor against standard-of-care in up to 60 patients suffering from CHF. The company said the second group of patients to receive the next higher dose is now being recruited.
(www.mesoblast.com/mediareleases/news_asxannouncement114.pdf)

100th patient receives Terumo's DuraHeart LVAD . . . . Terumo Heart (Ann Arbor, Michigan), a subsidiary of Terumo (Japan), reported reaching a milestone in the worldwide expansion of its DuraHeart Left-Ventricular Assist System (LVAS) as the 100th patient was treated at the Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University of Bochum (Bad Oeynhausen, Germany). Terumo says the DuraHeart is the first, third-generation rotary blood pump that incorporates a centrifugal flow rotary pump with an active magnetically levitated impeller featuring three position sensors and magnetic coils that optimize blood flow, while minimizing device wear and tear. The DuraHeart is being studied in the DuraHeart Pivotal U.S. Trial for Bridge-to-Transplant, a multi-center, prospective, non-randomized study, involving 140 patients in up to 40 centers.
(http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Terumo-Heart-Inc-Reaches-prnews-15299424.html?.v=1)

Women's heart disease awareness increases, management difficult . . . . Data just released by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the NIH, along with other surveys, show that women have an increasing awareness of the risk of getting heart disease. But an online study conducted by Woman's Day, also found that women have difficulty managing their heart health: 62% reported difficulty exercising at the recommended level of 30 minutes per day, and more than half struggle to achieve a healthy weight. The findings support the work of The Heart Truth, an NHL I campaign to educate women about heart disease and act to protect their heart health.
(http://public.nhlbi.nih.gov/newsroom/home/GetPressRelease.aspx?id=2645)

Hard-line approach needed for cardio risks in diabetes . . . . One-size-fits-all testing is not enough to reveal an individual's risk for cardiovascular disease, according to researchers presenting last week at the 18th Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE; Jacksonville, Florida). Howard Weintraub, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University Medical School, said that this requires "individualized testing and early intervention" addressing "a constellation of issues." AACE issued a treatment regimen for patients with pre-diabetes, a condition that puts individuals at risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
(http://media.aace.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4896)

UK heart charity urges improved palliative care . . . . In response to an End of Life Care Report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Ruairi O'Connor, head of policy and public affairs at the British Heart Foundation (BHF; London), has called for a renewed strategic approach to cardio and vascular disease, from prevention through to end-of-life care. "Many cardiac and vascular patients are affected by issues highlighted in the report and receive less specialist palliative care compared to other conditions. The BHF calls on government to increase efforts to reduce the current unbalanced provision of palliative and supportive care for heart patients."
(www.bhf.org.uk/default.aspx?page=9980)

UK food industry told to slash salt levels . . . . Eighty supermarket staples are being targeted by the UK's Food Standards Agency (London), with retailers and manufacturers ordered to slash the salt content by up to half in some cases. Tinned sardines and pasta are among those facing the toughest reductions as part of a government drive to cut rates of coronary heart disease. Health experts say that reducing daily salt intake to 6 g from 8.6 g could prevent more than 20,000 premature deaths every year and would save £1.5 billion annually for the NHS and the nation's employers.
(www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2009/may/salttargets)

BP medications milestone confirmed . . . . New research supports the findings of a landmark drug comparison study published in 2002 in which a diuretic drug outperformed other medications for high blood pressure (BP). The Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT), the largest high BP treatment trial ever conducted and compared the impact of four classes of BP drugs on 42,418 high-risk patients between 1994 and 2002. "Since the initial publication of the ALLHAT findings more than five years ago, many questions and some criticisms have been raised," said Jackson Wright, MD, PhD, lead author and professor at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland). More detailed analyses of the ALLHAT data and data from more recent clinical trials, he said, "confirm the initial ALLHAT findings that diuretics remain unsurpassed in reducing blood pressure and preventing major complications of hypertension." The findings, by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston appear in the May 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

— Compiled by Don Long, MDD National Editor