Cardiac surgeons install tiny temporary pump inside heart

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Islamabad, Oct 3 (Newswire): Cardiologists weave an eight gram pump through an artery in the groin into the left ventricle, where it pumps up to five liters of blood per minute.

This temporary device assists the heart as it recovers after surgery, prompting faster recovery.

Not only do patients need rest after heart surgery, so do their hearts! Next, a new device that helps weak hearts heal.

J.J. McCarthy is happy to be moved into his new home, but not long ago, breathing problems would have made even unpacking a box difficult. "I started having some shortness of breath and I went in to get it check out," he told Ivanhoe.

McCarthy learned he had a heart problem and needed bypass surgery, but a delicate heart can take a beating during surgery. "We repair a heart in surgery," Bartley Griffith, M.D., a heart surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, told Ivanhoe. "It's a little bit like we create a bruise and the bruise has to heal in the heart."

Now, to help hearts heal after surgery, cardiac surgeons temporarily implant a new device that helps the heart pump blood, giving it a short-term rest. "It basically can perform the function of two-thirds of the heart, and so we let the heart kind of just hang out and repair itself," Dr. Griffith explains.

The tiny pump fits inside a catheter that is inserted through an artery in the groin leading to the heart. The device then helps pump blood in the left ventricle -- the heart's main pumping chamber. It's designed to support the heart for a week or less after surgery, allowing the heart to recover faster. "I think we can pull more patients through open heart surgery than we ever could before, because we have a powerful tool to assist the heart healing," Dr. Griffith says.

McCarthy needed the pump for just two days after surgery. His heart healed quickly and he was back on his feet. "I think it really shortened my recovery time a lot," McCarthy says. "I was able to get up and around a lot faster."

The heart pump device can pump up to five liters of blood per minute -- about three-quarters of a normal heart's output of seven liters per minute. After the device has done its job, it's removed from the patient.

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Cocaine or ecstasy consumption during adolescence increases risk of addiction

Islamabad, Oct 3 (Newswire): Exposure to ecstasy or cocaine during adolescence increases the "reinforcing effects" that make people vulnerable to developing an addiction.

This is the main conclusion of a research team from the University of Valencia (UV), which has shown for the first time how these changes persist into adulthood.

"Although MDMA and cocaine are psychoactive substances frequently used by teenagers, very few studies have been done to analyse the short and long-term consequences of joint exposure to these drugs," says José Miñarro, lead author of the study and coordinator of the Psychobiology of Drug Addiction group at the UV.

The study, published in the journal Addiction Biology, shows for the first time that exposure to these drugs during adolescence leads to long-lasting changes that increase the reinforcing power of ecstasy or MDMA, and which last until adulthood.

Miñarro's team studied the joint consumption of different drugs in order to carry out an in-depth examination into the effects of this interaction. The scientists administered MDMA, cocaine and saline solution to mice over an eight-day period. "The animals exhibited an increase in vulnerability to re-establishing behaviour (relapse), showing a preference for certain environments previously associated with the pleasant effects of the drug," explains Miñarro.

The results highlight that the so-called "reinforcing effects" are greater in adult mice treated with ecstasy or cocaine during adolescence than in adolescent mice not exposed to these drugs. "Adolescence is a critical stage in development, during which time drug consumption affects plastic cerebral processes in ways that cause changes that persist right through to adulthood," adds the scientist.

The results of various surveys, both national and international, show that one of the most common patterns of drug use is polyconsumption. Ecstasy is regularly consumed alongside other drugs such as alcohol, cannabis and cocaine. These same surveys show that 44% of cocaine users in Spain also take ecstasy, and this consumption takes place primarily during adolescence.

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Different genes influence smoking risk during adolescence and adulthood

Islamabad, Oct 3 (Newswire): There is growing evidence that the risk factors for addiction change throughout the lifespan.

The risk factors for developing addiction in adolescence are the most intensively studied because this life phase is associated with the highest addiction risk.

Traits linked to addiction risk during adolescence include pleasure-seeking, behavioral disinhibition, and devaluation of the future negative consequences of behavior. In contrast, the development of substance use among adults is more commonly associated with high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Thus, perhaps it is not surprising that different sets of genes are now implicated in the risk for addiction in adolescence and adulthood.

In a new study published in Biological Psychiatry, researchers found that teenagers carrying variants in two gene regions were three times more likely to become regular smokers in adolescence and twice as likely to be persistent smokers in adulthood, compared to non-carriers.

Variation in a set of dopamine-related genes was associated with a person's risk of starting smoking, and these genes had a stronger impact on smoking initiation in adolescents than in adults. Individuals carrying the risk variants had a 1.3-fold increased risk of starting smoking in their teenage years.

The other set of genes coded for subunits of the nicotinic cholinergic receptors, the brain targets for nicotine inhaled during smoking. Variation in these genes influenced the likelihood of smokers continuing the habit into adulthood, as it had a stronger influence on the smoking habits of adults than of adolescents. Those carrying these variants had a 1.3-fold increased risk of becoming a heavy and persistent smoker in adulthood.

"These findings seem to make some sense. The dopamine-related genes may be more closely associated with the risk for addiction within the context of thrill-seeking, while cholinergic receptors, which have been implicated in mood and cognition as well as addiction, might contribute to self-medication models of addiction," commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.

The researchers say the findings could help develop genetic testing for those wishing to know their susceptibility to nicotine dependence and tobacco-related disease. It could also pave the way for targeted drugs that influence an individual's response to nicotine. However, further research is necessary before these goals could be implemented.

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