In the 1st place he did HEART BY-PASS because he constantly needs to get around his own Consciences to send us Singaporeans out of Singapore to die for old age and ailment.
:oIo:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/br...nt-shows-promise/story-e6frf7k6-1226032987658
'Cow valve' heart implant shows promise
* By Kerry Sheridan in New Orleans
* From: AFP
* April 04, 2011 12:54AM
A NEW type of heart valve replacement surgery using a bioprosthetic implant made of cow tissue showed similar survival rates as open heart surgery after one year, US researchers said overnight.
The new catheter-inserting technique is less invasive than conventional surgery and so may be a promising option for high-risk patients, but also carries greater risk of stroke and other major heart complications, said the findings.
The study compared results among 699 patients with a median age of 84, who were randomly assigned to either transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or open heart surgery to replace the aortic valve (AVR).
All the patients suffered from severe aortic stenosis, a clogged valve that impedes the pathway of oxygen-rich blood by making the heart work harder to pump blood through a narrowing opening.
The condition affects nine per cent of Americans over 65. Without treatment, up to half of patients die within two years.
The TAVR process involves taking a wire mesh stent that holds three stitched-in valve flaps made of cow tissue, and inserting that into the heart via a catheter in a leg artery or under the rib cage.
The bioprosthetic, called the Edwards SAPIEN heart valve, is made by Edwards Lifesciences in California.
The valve is treated with an anti-calcium building agent that helps cut back on the causes of stenosis. It is not yet available on the US market and is considered an "investigational device".
Early results from the study at the 30-day marked favoured the catheter insertion of the bioprosthetic, showing a death rate of 3.4 per cent compared to 6.4 per cent for the open heart surgery method.
Death rates evened out over time and were similar at one year, said the results of the one-year study, known as the PARTNER Trial, the first major randomised trial to compare outcomes of the two methods.
Those in the cow-valve group also saw lower risk of major bleeding (9.3 per cent compared to 19.3 per cent in surgery patients) and irregular heart rhythm (8.6 per cent compared to 16 per cent in the other group).
"These results clearly show that TAVR is an excellent alternative to surgical AVR in high-risk patients," said Craig Smith, co-principal investigator on the study.
However, the new method carried significantly higher risk of "major vascular complications", at a rate of 11 per cent after TAVR compared to 3.2 per cent in patients who underwent conventional surgery.
Major stroke risk was also higher in TAVR patients - 3.8 per cent versus 2.1 per cent at the 30-day mark and 5.1 per cent versus 2.4 per cent after one year.
"Large-scale, randomised comparisons of new interventional procedures to gold-standard surgical procedures have seldom been done before," said Smith.
"This is the ideal opportunity, because surgical AVR is one of the most effective operation surgeons offer, and TAVR is the most exciting new treatment for aortic stenosis in the past two to three decades."
The study was released overnight at the American College of Cardiology conference in New Orleans.
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:oIo:http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/br...nt-shows-promise/story-e6frf7k6-1226032987658
'Cow valve' heart implant shows promise
* By Kerry Sheridan in New Orleans
* From: AFP
* April 04, 2011 12:54AM
A NEW type of heart valve replacement surgery using a bioprosthetic implant made of cow tissue showed similar survival rates as open heart surgery after one year, US researchers said overnight.
The new catheter-inserting technique is less invasive than conventional surgery and so may be a promising option for high-risk patients, but also carries greater risk of stroke and other major heart complications, said the findings.
The study compared results among 699 patients with a median age of 84, who were randomly assigned to either transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or open heart surgery to replace the aortic valve (AVR).
All the patients suffered from severe aortic stenosis, a clogged valve that impedes the pathway of oxygen-rich blood by making the heart work harder to pump blood through a narrowing opening.
The condition affects nine per cent of Americans over 65. Without treatment, up to half of patients die within two years.
The TAVR process involves taking a wire mesh stent that holds three stitched-in valve flaps made of cow tissue, and inserting that into the heart via a catheter in a leg artery or under the rib cage.
The bioprosthetic, called the Edwards SAPIEN heart valve, is made by Edwards Lifesciences in California.
The valve is treated with an anti-calcium building agent that helps cut back on the causes of stenosis. It is not yet available on the US market and is considered an "investigational device".
Early results from the study at the 30-day marked favoured the catheter insertion of the bioprosthetic, showing a death rate of 3.4 per cent compared to 6.4 per cent for the open heart surgery method.
Death rates evened out over time and were similar at one year, said the results of the one-year study, known as the PARTNER Trial, the first major randomised trial to compare outcomes of the two methods.
Those in the cow-valve group also saw lower risk of major bleeding (9.3 per cent compared to 19.3 per cent in surgery patients) and irregular heart rhythm (8.6 per cent compared to 16 per cent in the other group).
"These results clearly show that TAVR is an excellent alternative to surgical AVR in high-risk patients," said Craig Smith, co-principal investigator on the study.
However, the new method carried significantly higher risk of "major vascular complications", at a rate of 11 per cent after TAVR compared to 3.2 per cent in patients who underwent conventional surgery.
Major stroke risk was also higher in TAVR patients - 3.8 per cent versus 2.1 per cent at the 30-day mark and 5.1 per cent versus 2.4 per cent after one year.
"Large-scale, randomised comparisons of new interventional procedures to gold-standard surgical procedures have seldom been done before," said Smith.
"This is the ideal opportunity, because surgical AVR is one of the most effective operation surgeons offer, and TAVR is the most exciting new treatment for aortic stenosis in the past two to three decades."
The study was released overnight at the American College of Cardiology conference in New Orleans.
e?
