CHD in the News

Congenital heart patient champions women’s heart health When Debby Flaherty-Kizer talks to women about heart health and disease, she’s not rattling off statistics and procedures – she’s telling her own story. More than 30 years ago, Flaherty-Kizer was diagnosed with Ebstein’s anomaly, a rare congenital heart condition affecting the tricuspid valve. Click here to read more.

New Heart Built with Stem Cells Julianna Olsen of KARE 11 Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota Reports

Mortality Rate Reporting for the Norwood Procedure in HLHS Patients
From Letter to the Editor in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, September 2010
Click here to read the letter.

Olympian Shaun White Interviewed about his CHD at the Dew Tour in Portland Made of five major events that take place over the course of five months, the Dew Tour is the first ever action sports tour running since 2005.Interview by: News Radio 750 KXL, Portland Oregon.

Houston Run Raises Awareness For Heart Defects
By Rachel McNeill (February 4, 2010)HOUSTON — One out of every 100 babies is born with a congenital heart defect, and many families don’t know about this potentially fatal condition until it strikes someone they love, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday. Houston mom Corrie Stassen has made it her mission to change that.Read more & watch the video segment . . .

Medtronic Valve Wins FDA Approval
By JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN The Wall Street Journal Health (January 26, 2010)
The Food and Drug Administration Monday approved a Medtronic Inc. heart valve that can be implanted without open-heart surgery.

Sixth-graders’ heart screenings shock researchers
By CINDY GEORGE Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle (Dec. 2, 2009)
Heart screenings offered to sixth-graders at a Houston middle school revealed seven with undiagnosed heart conditions— two of which required surgery — and the results shocked researchers who want to see such tests offered at every campus.

Environment plays role in hypoplastic left heart syndrome
The Medical News from www.News-Medical.net (March 30, 2009)
A congenital heart disease that often leads to death in newborns is significantly more common during the summer, leading researchers to believe that the environment, and not just genes that affect the heart, may play a role in causing “mini-epidemics” of this disease.

Lifewatch: Berlin Heart (WECT 6 Wilmington)
Adult heart failure patients in the United States can get heart pumps as they wait for an organ transplant, but helping children is more difficult.

Benefits Of ICDs In Children: Largest Study To Date (Medical News Today)
More and more children with congenital heart disease are receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to maintain proper heart rhythm. ICDs were first introduced for adults in the 1980s, but little is known about how well they work in children, who account for less than 1 percent of recipients.

Lemonade with a lot of heart (Toronto Star)
With donations of $79,630 to date, a 10-year-old Toronto girl – known for her little lemonade stand – is closing in on her bid to raise $100,000 for heart and stroke research.

Sometimes I watch the television program “House,” and I am always amused when… (San Francisco Chronicle)
Sometimes I watch the television program “House,” and I am always amused when Dr. House barks, “Test for Whitsunday’s syndrome” or “It could be hydrotropic amanuensis. Take some spinal fluid.” The conditions mentioned are always wildly obscure. (Even though…

Phase 3 data Re: Anti-RSV antibody to be presented at Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting (EurekAlert!)
HONOLULU, HI, May 4, 2008 – MedImmune today announced that researchers are currently presenting results from a MedImmune-sponsored Phase 3 study involving motavizumab, an investigational monoclonal antibody (MAb) that is being evaluated for its potential to prevent serious disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in high-risk pediatric patients.

Largest Study To Date Finds Benefits Of ICDs In Children (Science Daily)
More and more children with congenital heart disease are receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators to maintain proper heart rhythm. ICDs were first introduced for adults in the 1980s, but little is known about how well they work in children. Now, a report of the largest pediatric experience to date finds the devices to be life-saving, but also suggests that they tend to deliver more …

Largest Study to Date Finds ICDs Beneficial in Children, but Inappropriate Shocks Can Be a Problem (Newswise)
More and more children with congenital heart disease are receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to maintain proper heart rhythm, but little is known about how well they work in children. Now, a report of the largest pediatric experience to date finds ICDs to be life-saving, but also that they tend to deliver more inappropriate shocks to children than to adults.