RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

The FDA has approved a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) for the AbioCor replacement heart system. The AbioCor is the first FDA approved completely self-contained artificial organ and may be the most sophisticated medical device ever designed.

With not enough natural hearts available for transplant, this new medical breakthrough is offering hope to people who suffer from heart failure. The AbioCor’s bio-compatible pump is able to mimic the function of a human heart. Just as remarkable, it allows the blood to circulate through it and not get rejected. The mechanism gives the body a pulse and propels blood throughout the body in a fashion that is identical to the human body.

Imagine going through life knowing the main artery in your heart could burst at any time. That happens to thousands of people each year who have aortic aneurysms. Even though it’s a condition that can lead to serious complications, doctors can now treat it with a somewhat simple device.

Far from just being decorations on your fridge, magnets are used in countless products every day. From ushering trains along the tracks to helping produce sound in your car speakers, magnets play a lot of roles. Now, powerful magnets are even being used to help heal the human heart.

Greg Allard, Bruce Blais, and Jodi Blais from American Ambulance Service, Inc. demonstrates an automated external defibrillator (AED). This is great stuff to know!

Chances are good that you know at least one woman who’s at risk for heart disease, the number one killer in the U.S. And yet, 80% of heart disease cases are preventable. The only risk factors you can’t modify are your age and your family history. Womansday.com provides information on how you can protect yourself and all the women in your life.

The number of people who are stepping forward to donate a kidney has shot up over 60% in the last 10 years. Thanks to those living donors, transplant patients can lead relatively healthy lives. But what about the health of the donors themselves?

Scientists are trying to use stem cells after a heart attack to help re-build damaged heart tissue, but they’ve had trouble measuring if & how well the heart responds. Now, a tiny, high-tech tattoo on the heart can show the information they need.

Heinok Belete was only 14 years old when he died from Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome, or SADS. Now his family and others want to raise money to help find a cure for SADS with a climb of Mt. Rainier.

A new study says calcium supplements could increase heart attack and stroke risks for some women, but local doctors say they would like to see more information.