The heart transplant program at the University of California San Diego Health has achieved the best one-year patient survival rate in the U.S., with surgeons working at the Cardiovascular Institute performing more than 50 heart transplants each year, data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients…
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Blocking the protein interleukin-1 (IL-1) protects against pulmonary hypertension (PH) induced by complications from bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) caused by high levels of oxygen, a new study in newborn mice reports. The findings have implications for the…
A Phase 2a trial testing the potential oral treatment rodatristat ethyl in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has begun dosing, its developer announced. Rodatristat ethyl (or RVT-1201), the lead therapy candidate of Altavant Sciences, is an inhibitor of the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase. The therapy is designed to…
Only a year ago, Florence Attaway — for decades a half-pack-a-day smoker — struggled to walk even one city block. “I had to take a taxi from my home one block to the hospital because I could hardly breathe,” said the 83-year-old New Yorker, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary…
Bellerophon reached its enrollment goal for the second group of patients in its ongoing Phase 2/3 trial evaluating different doses of INOpulse therapy for pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD), a illness for which no treatments exist. PH-ILD patients in group (or…
Note: This is the third article in a series written in collaboration with respiratory therapist Mark W. Mangus Sr., RRT, RPFT, FAARC, and oxygen expert Ryan Diesem. This segment also includes contributions from Donna Frownfelter, PT, DPT, MA, CCS, RRT, FCCP, and Marion Mackles, PT, BS, LMT. The first two…
Analysis of gas exhaled in differing positions, like sitting or laying flat, could be a noninvasive and simple alternative to right heart catheterization in evaluating and managing people with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a study suggests. The study, “Usefulness of ventilatory gas analysis for the non-invasive…
Screening newborns for genetic diseases with treatments that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders, has a ways to go in the United States. No state today tests for all 35 disorders recommended under a federal screening panel, and even in those that come close, rare…
The vasodilator Adempas (riociguat) increases the ability of endothelial progenitor cells to halt vascular remodeling and enhance formation of new blood vessels in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), according to a new in vitro (in the lab) study. This may be particularly helpful for CTEPH patients…
Oklahoma suffers more tornadoes than any other state, has the highest per-capita rate of women in U.S. prisons, ranks second in the number of teen births per 100,000 teenage girls, and has the nation’s third-highest rate of uninsured residents — with 13.9% of all Oklahomans lacking health coverage. As if…
While physicians worldwide are conducting multi-parametric risk assessments to evaluate pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), they are not doing so to the extent recommended by current guidelines, results from an international survey show. The survey found that PAH evaluations in clinical practice were not performed to the levels recommended by…
Treatment with nintedanib lowered lung blood pressure in a rat model of pulmonary arterial hypertension by preventing cells of blood vessel walls from changing identity, and by inhibiting smooth muscle cells from growing excessively, a study has found. The study, “Nintedanib ameliorates experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension via inhibition…
