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Three out of 10 specialist units will stop performing heart surgery on children following an NHS review which decided resources were spread too thinly. The Royal Brompton in Chelsea, west London, Leeds General Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital in Leicester will not stop providing surgery immediately as plans to implement the new streamlined service are still being developed. Once they stop providing surgery, probably after 2013, the units will still see patients for diagnosis, monitoring and non-surgical treatment. The consultation process by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) of England

OGDEN -- Ogden Regional Medical Center is the first Top of Utah hospital to perform cardiothoracic surgery with a sophisticated robot called da Vinci. The robotic surgery, an alternative to traditional open heart surgery, is used for mitral valve repair, coronary artery bypass grafting and atrial septal defect, among other procedures. The minimally invasive surgery uses smaller incisions without having to crack the chest open and cut through bone. The results include shorter hospital stays, faster recovery, significantly less pain and fewer complications, said Dr. Joseph Graham, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Ogden Regional Medical Center and the first in Utah...

In as little as five years, researchers hope to be able to coax the heart into regenerating itself, repairing the damage caused by cardiac arrests and old age. The revolutionary treatment could be possible after scientists discovered a technique for turning ordinary connective tissue into muscle cells inside the heart. It works in a similar way to stem cells but instead of the new cells being grown outside the body and then injected back in, the technique simply makes the cells switch at the point where they are needed. Around 700,000 people in Britain suffer from heart failure because it...

GLENFIELD, England, April 29 (UPI) -- British cardiologists used a robotic arm to perform surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat while the surgeon was in another room, hospital officials said. The procedure, a medical first, involved passing a thin metal wire along the patient's blood vessels and into the heart where a precise dot of heat was then applied to a faulty section of heart muscle, said officials at Glenfield Hospital, one of England's primary hospitals for coronary care. Cardiologist Andre Ng of the nearby University of Leicester carried out the procedure using the $540,000 Catheter Robotics Remote Catheter Manipulation...

It is rare that a simple matter of patient choice causes an international flap. But that's what happened when 60-year-old Danny Williams of St. John's, Newfoundland, decided to go to the U.S. for heart surgery. That's because Williams isn't just any old Newfoundlander -- he's the premier of Canada's easternmost province, the head of its government.

My mother-in-law, Barbara, is scheduled for triple bypass surgery Wednesday(2/10) Morning at 7AM Central Time. She is actually registered as a FReeper as DrewsNana, but only posted once about 5 years ago. Please pray for a successful surgery and complete recovery. Pray for peace of mind for her and the whole family - husband, son and daughter(my wife-drewsmom). Also pray for a peaceful resolution among family members to provide her with a clean(smoke-free) environment at home for healing. She also has glaucoma issues. She is a believer and recently concluded one of her emails with"...God , Thank you for loving...

In spite of being told numerous times his "stress tests", EKGs, cholesterol and everything-else tests were *great*, we just found out today that he needs quintuple bypass surgery ASAP.

NOVEMBER 21, 2009 The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery In India, a Factory Model for Hospitals Is Cutting Costs and Yielding GEETA ANAND. BANGALORE -- Hair tucked into a surgical cap, eyes hidden behind thick-framed magnifying glasses, Devi Shetty leans over the sawed open chest of an 11-year-old boy, using bright blue thread to sew an artificial aorta onto his stopped heart. As Dr. Shetty pulls the thread tight with scissors, an assistant reads aloud a proposed agreement for him to build a new hospital in the Cayman Islands that would primarily serve Americans in search of lower-cost medical care....

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson underwent 10 hours of surgery to repair a heart disorder and is back in Virginia recovering, a spokesman said Monday. "He's really doing well, recovering very quickly," spokesman Chris Roslan said of the 79-year-old founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network. "He's doing great." Robertson, ... was treated Aug. 19 at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital for atrial fibrillation. He was released last Thursday, Roslan said. Robertson underwent convergent procedure, which involves cauterizing the continually beating heart muscle with heat generated by a radio frequency. The procedure is less invasive than traditional heart surgery...

My husband and I have a friend who is having cardiac ablation tomorrow at 9am. Please pray for Chris. He was in a car accident last year. Feeling faint he was pulling off the road, his heart stopped and he hit a tree. The impact restarted his heart. We believe that it was a miracle. Since then he has had a defibrillator that hasn't worked out well and he has had medication that helps but has side affects.

NEW YORK – Robin Williams was recovering at the Cleveland Clinic after heart surgery that his doctors deemed successful, his publicists said Monday. The 57-year-old actor had an operation to replace an aortic valve on March 13, publicists Mara Buxbaum and Chris Kanarick said. He was expected to make a complete recovery in the next eight weeks. "His heart is strong and he will have normal heart function in the coming weeks with no limitations on what he'll be able to do," said Dr. A. Marc Gillinov, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. "A couple of hours after surgery,...

World's first awake bypass surgery with valve replacement performed at Wockhardt Hospitals, Bangalore.    Another chapter in the history of heart surgery across the world was written in India by the Bangalore-based Wockhardt Hospital & Heart Institute, recently.   Dr Vivek Jawali, chief cardiovascular surgeon along with his team at Wockhardt Heart Institute have set a global benchmark by performing the first coronary bypass surgery along with an aortic valve replacement without using general anaesthesia or ventilator support while the patient was on a heart lung machine.   This is the first such reported case in the world of a twin heart...

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aeN.VpImPC_o

NIS Investigating Reports of Ailing Kim Jong-il Rumors are growing that reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health is failing. Following the first report on the matter by the Chosun Ilbo on May 28, Japan's Shukan Gendai on Saturday reported that Kim had heart surgery by a team of German doctors, and the U.K.'s Telegraph on Monday wrote that he can barely walk 30 yards without tiring. On May 29, U.S.-based MSNBC wrote on their website that U.S. intelligence officials confirmed that they are "taking seriously recent reports of a deterioration" in Kim's health. A well-informed source on North Korean...

India's first robot-assisted heart valve replacement surgery was conducted at a hospital here, doctors said Saturday. A 23-year-old male patient, who was diagnosed with mitral stenosis and severe mitral regurgitation (tight and leaky valve) and severe enlargement of the left atrium, is recovering fast after the robotically assisted valve replacement Sep 29, they said. R. Ravi Kumar, a cardiothoracic surgeon, told a news conference that the Care Hospital had achieved the distinction of being the first in India to perform this robot-aided procedure. 'While robotic surgeries have been done for the ASD ('hole in heart') closure and mitral valve repair...

ASSOCIATED PRESS ALBANY, N.Y. -- A report detailing the performance of 37 hospitals in New York shows mortality rates for heart surgeries declining, but critics say the information should be released faster and cover a broader range of procedures. The report, which lets patients see which hospitals and surgeons have the best track records, shows that in 2003 the statewide mortality rate for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery was 1.61 percent. When the state first began tracking the surgeries in 1989, the mortality rate was 3.52 percent. The improved mortality rate is being driven in part by the public...

HIS drawings, diagrams and maps have excited and inspired us for half a millennium. Now once more Leonardo da Vinci has proved that he was far ahead of his time — and ours. A leading heart and lung specialist has been inspired by anatomical discoveries made by Leonardo 500 years ago to change the way he conducts certain operations. Francis Wells, consultant cardiac surgeon at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, said yesterday that he had had a “eureka moment” as he pored over drawings and notes by the artist in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. Mr Wells was studying Leonardo’s...

In California: An e-mail campaign, plus favors and donations from families and friends, will get Asedullah Ibrahim a necessary operation Next week's hurdle will be the last, and perhaps the most dangerous. A dark-complected Afghan man dressed in a long, flowing caftan and turban, holding the hand of an 11-year-old boy, could spark suspicion when the two change planes in Germany, New York and Los Angeles. Any stress, from an overly aggressive security guard searching the boy to walking more than a few steps, could cause the child to collapse, perhaps die. Back at Bagram Airfield in north-central Afghanistan, Chief...

Please join me in praying for my mom. She will be undergoing double-bypass heart surgery this morning. Jesus Christ is her Lord and Savior so she has eternal security. Her name is Connie.

WASHINGTON: India's great outsourcing debate with the United States may have just moved from software to 'heartware.' Defeated by exorbitant health care costs in the United States, a North Carolina worker flew into New Delhi over the weekend for a heart surgery on the cheap. Howard Staab was wheeled into the Operation Room at Escorts Heart Institute at 9 a.m. on Monday listening to "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," with dhanyavaad (Thank You) written on his chest with a purple marker. He was out in the Recovery Room by 3.30 p.m. with "every best case scenario plan implemented," according to...

" WASHINGTON: India's great outsourcing debate with the United States may have just moved from software to 'heartware.' Defeated by exorbitant health care costs in the United States, a North Carolina worker flew into New Delhi over the weekend for a heart surgery on the cheap." "The cost of the procedure and after care in India – less than $ 20,000, compared to the $ 200,000 Staab was asked to fork out in the US." " Although 'health tourism' and outsourcing of medical procedures has been on the horizon for some time, this is one of the first instances of...

LOMA LINDA It has been 13 days since Elodia Torres looked into the eyes of her nine-month-old-son. Manuel Adam Torres lay motionless on life support at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital. Elodia had to stand on a small step just to caress her son. She did so carefully so not to disturb the dozens of lines and tubes connecting his body to life support systems. Her husband, Marine Sgt. Jose Torres stood beside her. The baby, on life support in Loma Linda University Children's Hospital since Labor Day, was sedated as his parents wait. Elodia took Manuel from the Torres'...

Last week’s NY Times article, which reported that Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center has the highest death rate in NY for bypass surgery is an example of misleading statistics. Although the Times reported that NY State takes into account several statistical modifiers, such as lifestyle, patient population, severity of illness, among other factors, has there been any analysis of the NY State’s analytical methods? There has been no shortage of bogus epidemiological studies. On his radio show last week, Bob Grant went off on a caller who questioned the report. But the caller was correct. Unless we know the validity of...

The hospital where former President Bill Clinton awaits bypass surgery has the highest death rate for the operation in New York State, according to the state's Health Department. While the death rate is quite low - fewer than 4 percent of all bypass operations - it is still nearly double the average for hospitals in the state that perform bypasses. The Clinton family had no comment on the Health Department's statistical profile, which showed that the hospital, Columbia-Presbyterian Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, had a 3.93 percent overall death rate for coronary bypass surgery in 2001, the latest year for...

Scientists have developed a device which they say could help patients who would otherwise need heart surgery. Researchers told the American Cardiology Conference a tiny metal clip could help patients with a faulty heart valve. Patients currently have invasive surgery to replace the valve, so their heart can work properly. But the researchers said the clip, fed to the heart via a vein, repaired the valve so patients did not need surgery. Heart works harder Doctors in the US have so far used the clip to treat 10 patients with mitral regurgitation, where the mitral valve, which regulates the flow...

A Lucky Year I am of the same generation as Sen. Bob Graham and Saddam Hussein. All of us in that generation were born at the tail end of the Great Depression, were children during World War II and came of age in the 1950s. The only good thing to say about Saddam is that he is pretty darn spry as a fugitive. I'm not sure that I could elude 146,000 Americans soldiers and who knows how many angry Iraqis for five months. Maybe swimming the Tigris River every year has kept him in better shape than he ever looked...

<p>LOMA LINDA, Calif. — The critically ill son of a Marine deployed to the Middle East received a new heart and was recovering from surgery early Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.</p> <p>Four-month-old Dillon gained national attention when his father, Maj. Hal Sellers, was forced to decide between his family and his duty overseas. He said goodbye to his son and left for the Middle East more than two weeks ago.</p>

Teen's Family Awaits Word on Brain Damage The Associated Press Feb 22 2003 6:31AM DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Jesica Santillan, who got an odds-defying second chance at life after one botched heart-lung transplant, lay unconscious early Saturday as her family awaited word on whether her brain was irreversibly damaged. Jesica received her first transplant Feb. 7 from a donor of a different blood type. Her body rejected the transplant and her health was failing by the time a second set of organs was placed in her body early Thursday. Though the newest organs were performing well Friday, the 17-year-old's brain...

New heart surgery hope as rats respond to gas Jan 20 2003 The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales   CARBON MONOXIDE, the poison gas produced by vehicle exhausts, could prove to be a life saver for heart surgery patients, new research suggests. Scientists found that rats exposed to the poison were less likely to suffer complications after undergoing heart operations. Carbon monoxide may therefore be beneficial in a wide range of heart and blood circulation diseases, the United States researchers believe. Currently the best treatment for patients with clogged arteries is bypass surgery or angioplasty. In the...

<p>A cardiologist at Redding Medical Center, Dr. Chae Hyun Moon, had told him he was at death's door unless he had immediate triple bypass surgery. So, Corapi -- once a multimillionaire who tumbled into cocaine addiction and homelessness before becoming a nationally known Catholic priest -- wrote a will and scheduled emergency heart surgery at a Las Vegas hospital, where a friend promised to take care of him afterward.</p>