Archive for cardiac research
Getting to the heart of heart muscle function
Every heart muscle cell, or cardiomyocyte, is studded with tiny, intricate structures called dyads. The dyads are like orchestra conductors: They coordinate incoming electrical signals with release of calcium in the muscle, triggering contraction. When dyads work properly, the different segments of heart muscle contract in unison; when they don’t, heartbeats may be too weak ... Read More
“Seeing” the unseen: A way to pinpoint elusive cardiac conduction tissue
When patients with congenital heart issues have an operation, surgeons have to proceed with an “eye of faith” as they work around conduction tissue — a network of cells and electrical signals that control the beating of a heart. Not visible to the naked eye, conduction systems vary person to person, but they’re particularly difficult ... Read More
Wanting to give back, four heart patients now work as heart pros
They belong to a unique group. As children, they needed surgery to repair congenital heart conditions. Rather than being afraid, they instead were curious about the science behind their treatment. What they learned motivated them to discover more and ultimately pursue careers in medicine. Now healthy adults and working for the Benderson Family Heart Center at Boston ... Read More
COVID-19 vaccination in 12- to 18-year-olds: What does the science say?
With a third “booster” dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine now authorized for children age 12 and older, you may be wondering about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in teens. With months of experience — and recent research — to draw from, we now have more answers. Several recent studies led or co-led by ... Read More
Bringing the Ozaki procedure to the world to repair children’s aortic valves
Children with aortic stenosis or regurgitation often need surgery to reconstruct or replace the aortic valve. However, existing bioprosthetics can fail over time, and mechanical leaflets and valves require lifelong anticoagulant therapy. Christopher Baird, MD, director of the Congenital Heart Valve Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, saw a promising alternative emerge in adult cardiac surgery: aortic ... Read More
New study ties residual lesion score (RLS) to cardiac surgery outcomes
How well a patient does after surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) depends on a large number of variables, ranging from patient characteristics to preoperative status to anatomic complexity to perioperative factors. One of the most important predictors of adverse events or reintervention is the presence of residual lesions — structural cardiac abnormalities that remain ... Read More
Soft stents, hardened in place by UV light, allow a snug, custom fit
Airway stents are often used when the trachea and bronchi need to be buttressed, as in children and adults with tracheobronchomalacia whose airways become “floppy” and collapse during normal breathing. This condition can occur in conjunction with congenital cardiac anomalies in which the major heart vessels compress the trachea, and with severe, recurrent bronchitis. But ... Read More
New findings show risk of bleeding and clotting after COVID-19
A year after COVID-19 was first identified, we have some answers about how to prevent and treat this illness, but there are still many questions. Some of the unknowns include what longer-term effects COVID-19 infection may have on the heart and other systems in the body. One of the complications associated with COVID-19 infection is ... Read More
The brightest rainbow follows the darkest storm: Our PVS journey
Caroline is our rainbow baby, born after the loss of another child, the light and color arising after a storm passes. A rainbow baby lifts a family in desperate need of lifting. It is a beautiful thing that I hope you never experience. Caroline was born on Dec. 10, 2015. Just three months later, my ... Read More
Two new approaches to identifying conduction tissue
Conduction cells in the heart are responsible for initiating contraction of the heart muscle. The inability to properly identify the location of conduction tissue in patients with congenital heart defects during heart surgery can lead to post-operative conduction abnormalities such as heart block or conduction delays. This necessitates the need for pacemakers, which leads to ... Read More