#cardiologists in morristown

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Looking for a trusted heart doctor in Morristown? Our experienced cardiologists provide comprehensive heart care for patients of all ages. Whether you're seeking a routine check-up, need help managing a heart condition, or require advanced diagnostic tests, our heart doctors in Morristown are here to support you. With personalized treatment plans and access to cutting-edge technology, we focus on your heart health every step of the way.  Schedule an appointment today!

[petnews2day]

Saranas Announces Over 1,200 Patients Treated with the Early Bird® Bleed Monitoring System

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/bird-news/saranas-announces-over-1200-patients-treated-with-the-early-bird-bleed-monitoring-system/

Saranas Announces Over 1,200 Patients Treated with the Early Bird® Bleed Monitoring System

HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Saranas, Inc. announced today that over 1,200 patients have been treated with the Early Bird® Bleed Monitoring System, the first and only FDA-approved bleed detection system. The Early Bird was launched in 2019 following a De Novo classification by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The device monitors and detects endovascular bleed complications through a novel application of bioimpedance sensors.

“Compared to the current paradigm of waiting for symptoms, which could take hours to develop, the Early Bird allows physicians to detect bleeding in real-time and take the necessary actions quickly to protect the outcomes of the procedure and aid recovery for the patient,” stated Dr. Philippe Genereux, interventional cardiologist and Director of the Structural Heart Disease Program at Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, NJ. “We have been using it in our clinical practice for over two years, and its design of incorporating a fully functional introducer sheath with bleed detection allows for seamless integration into high-risk, interventional cardiovascular procedures.”

“We have established a new standard of care for bleed monitoring during endovascular procedures, which not only helps to reduce intra- and post-procedural complications, but improve the patient experience,” said Saranas Interim CEO Kim Rodriguez. “The adoption of the Early Bird system is a testimony to physicians embracing the benefits of early bleed detection for their patients and practice.”

“We implemented the Early Bird as part of our post-procedure protocol and have seen a significant reduction in bleeding in our TAVR patients,” stated Dr. Hursh Naik, Chief of Cardiology and Director of Structural Heart Disease at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. “Our staff embraced the Early Bird as it has become a critical component in the continuity of care for our patients, enabling our bleed management team to quickly identify and manage a bleeding complication. We have not only improved our TAVR outcomes but enhanced the patient experience as well.”

The Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System includes a bleed detection array with integrated electrodes in a fully functional vascular access sheath. It is designed to measure changes in bioimpedance to detect and monitor bleeding from vessel injury during endovascular procedures, such as a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device placement, or other complex endovascular interventions, where the femoral artery or vein is used to obtain vascular access. Visual and audible indicators on the Early Bird notify the clinician of the onset and progression of bleeding events. In the FIH clinical study, bleed detection with the Early Bird was compared with a CT scan, the gold standard, and level of agreement was nearly perfect with 100% sensitivity1.

Approximately one in every five patients will experience a bleeding complication during large-bore endovascular procedures including TAVR, endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), and percutaneous MCS2. The average cost of a single bleeding complication incident across these large-bore procedures is approximately $18,000 with an estimated $729 million cost on the healthcare system.

About Saranas, Inc.

Saranas, Inc. is a privately held Houston-based medical device company focused on improving patient outcomes through early detection and monitoring of internal bleeding complications. The company’s patented Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System for vascular access procedures enables physicians to mitigate downstream consequences by addressing bleeding complications immediately, improving patient outcomes, and lowering healthcare costs. For more information, please visit www.saranas.com.

Genereux P et al. First-in-Human Study of the Saranas Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System for the Detection of Endovascular Procedure-Related Bleeding Events. J Invasive Cardiol. 2020 Jul;32(7):255-261. Epub 2020 Jun 8.

Redfors B et al. Mortality, length of stay, and cost implications of procedural bleeding after percutaneous interventions using large-bore catheters. JAMA Cardiol. 2017 Jul 1;2(7):798-802.

[gordonwilliamsweb]

What Covid Means for the Athlete’s Heart

For sports fans across the country, the resumption of the regular sports calendar has signaled another step toward post-pandemic normality. But for the athletes participating in professional, collegiate, high school or even recreational sports, significant unanswered questions remain about the aftereffects of a covid infection.

This story also ran on ESPN. It can be republished for free.

Chief among those is whether the coronavirus can damage their hearts, putting them at risk for lifelong complications and death. Preliminary data from early in the pandemic suggested that as many as 1 in 5 people with covid-19 could end up with heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, which has been linked to abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death.

Screening studies conducted by college athletic programs over the past year have generally found lower numbers. But these studies have been too small to provide an accurate measure of how likely athletes are to develop heart problems after covid, and how serious those heart issues may be.

Without definitive data, concerns arose that returning to play too soon could expose thousands of athletes to serious cardiac complications. On the other hand, if concerns proved overblown, the testing protocols could unfairly keep athletes out of competition and subject them to needless testing and treatment.

“The last thing we want is to miss people that we potentially could have detected, and have that result in bad outcomes — in particular, the sudden death of a young athlete,” said Dr. Matthew Martinez, director of sports cardiology at Atlantic Health’s Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey and an adviser to several professional sports leagues. “But we also need to look at the flip side and the potential negatives of overtesting.”

With millions of Americans playing high school, college, professional or master’s level sports, even a low rate of complications could result in significant numbers of affected athletes. And that could prompt a thorny discussion of how to balance the risk of a small percentage of players who could be in danger against the continuation of sports competition as we know it.

Limited Impact on Pro Sports

Data released from professional sports leagues in early March provided at least some reassurance that the problem may not be as great as initially feared. Pro athletes playing football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, soccer and hockey were screened for heart problems before returning from covid infections. The players underwent an electrical test of their heart rhythms, a blood test that checks for heart damage and an ultrasound exam of their hearts. Out of 789 athletes screened, 30 showed some cardiac abnormality in those initial tests and were referred for a cardiac MRI to provide a better picture of their heart. Five of those, less than 1% of athletes screened, showed inflammation of the heart that sidelined them for the remainder of their seasons.

The researchers compiling the data did not name the players, although some have disclosed their own diagnoses. Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodríguez returned to the mound this spring after missing the 2020 season following his covid and myocarditis diagnoses. Similarly, Buffalo Bills tight end Tommy Sweeney was close to returning from a foot injury when he was diagnosed with myocarditis in November.

In the college ranks, many assumed Keyontae Johnson — a 21-year-old forward on the University of Florida men’s basketball team who collapsed on the court in December, months after contracting covid — might have developed myocarditis. The Gainesville Sun reported that month he had been diagnosed with myocarditis, but his family issued a statement in February saying the incident was not covid-related and declined to release additional details.

Consequences Still Unclear

Doctors still don’t know how significant those MRI findings of myocarditis may be for athletes. Tests looking for rare medical events often generate more false positives than true positives. And without comparing the results with those of athletes who didn’t have covid, it is hard to determine what changes to attribute to the virus — or what may just be an effect of athletic training or other causes.

Training significantly changes athletes’ hearts, and what might look concerning in another patient could be perfectly normal for an elite athlete. Many endurance athletes, for example, have larger than average left ventricles and pump out a lower percentage of blood with each contraction. That would be a warning sign for patients who aren’t highly trained athletes.

“You can definitely have what we call the gray zone, where extreme forms of athletic cardiac remodeling can actually look a little bit like pathology,” said Dr. Jonathan Kim, a sports cardiologist at Emory University in Atlanta. “Covid has introduced a new challenge to this. Is it because they’re a cross-country runner or is it because they just had covid?”

Moreover, myocarditis is generally diagnosed based on symptoms — chest pain, shortness of breath, heart muscle weakness or electrical dysfunction — and then confirmed by MRI. It isn’t clear whether MRI findings that look like myocarditis in the absence of those symptoms are just as concerning.

“They have normal physical exams. They have normal cardiograms. Nothing else is going on,” said Dr. Robert Bonow, a cardiologist at Northwestern University and editor of JAMA Cardiology. “But when you order an MRI as part of a research study, you start seeing very subtle changes, because the MRI is very sensitive.”

Were they finding “abnormalities” simply because they were looking? Even in patients who die of covid, the rate of myocarditis is very low, Bonow said.

“So what’s going on with the athletes? Is it something related to the fact that they had an infection, or is it something which is very nonspecific, related to covid but not damage to the heart?” he said. “There’s still a great deal of uncertainty.”

Sports cardiologists involved in the pro sports data collection and in writing screening guidelines for athletes said the fact that players were able to resume their seasons without serious heart complications suggests the initial concern was overblown. Of the players who had mild or asymptomatic cases of covid, none was ultimately found to have myocarditis, and none experienced ongoing heart complications through 2020. Many completed their 2020 season and have already started their next one.

“We overcalled it,” Martinez said. “It shows what our guidelines reflected: The prevalence of cardiac disease in this condition is unusual in the athletic population.”

Falling Through the Cracks

Those screening guidelines, published by a group of leading sports cardiologists in October, call for cardiac tests only for athletes with moderate or severe covid symptoms. Athletes with asymptomatic cases or those with mild symptoms that have gone away can return to play without the additional testing. The National Federation of State High School Associations and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine have put out similar guidelines for high school athletes.

But that approach would not flag players such as Demi Washington.

Washington, a 19-year old sophomore on Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball team, had a rather mild case of covid. She had shared a meal with two teammates, one of whom later turned out to be infected. Seven days into a two-week quarantine in a hotel off campus, Washington also tested positive, and had to isolate with a stuffy nose for an additional 10 days. She waited for her symptoms to get worse, but they never did.

“It felt like allergies,” she said.

But when her symptoms cleared and she returned to practice, the university required her to undergo several tests to ensure the virus had not affected her heart. The initial tests raised no concerns. An MRI, though, showed acute myocarditis.

Her season was over, but, more importantly, Washington, an athlete in prime physical condition, faced the possibility of losing her life. She learned about Hank Gathers, a 23-year-old Loyola Marymount basketball star who collapsed during a game in 1990 and died within hours. His autopsy confirmed an enlarged heart and myocarditis.

“That really put me on the edge of my seat,” Washington said. “I was like, ‘OK, I have to take this seriously, because I don’t want to end up like that.’”

For months, she had to keep her heart rate under 110 beats per minute. Before, she ran 5 miles a day. With the myocarditis diagnosis, she had to wear a heart monitor, and even a brisk walk could push her above that threshold.

“One time I was walking to the gym and I might have been walking a little fast,” Washington recalled. “My chest got really, really tight.”

By mid-January, however, another MRI showed the inflammation had cleared, and she has since resumed working out.

“I’m so grateful that Vanderbilt does the MRI, because without it, there’s no telling what could have happened,” she said.

She wondered how many other athletes have been playing with myocarditis and didn’t know it.

Cases like Washington’s raise questions about how aggressively to screen. Her condition was found only because Vanderbilt took a much more conservative approach than that recommended by current guidelines: It screened all athletes with cardiac MRIs after they had covid, regardless of the severity of their symptoms or their initial cardiac tests.

Of the 59 athletes screened post-covid, the university found two with signs of myocarditis. That’s just over 3%.

“Is the current rate of myocarditis that we’re seeing high enough to warrant ongoing cardiovascular screening?” asked Dr. Daniel Clark, a Vanderbilt sports cardiologist and lead author of an analysis of the school’s screening efforts. “Five percent is too much to ignore, in my opinion, but what is our societal threshold for not screening highly competitive athletes for myocarditis?”

Even though myocarditis is rare, studies have found that noncovid-related myocarditis causes up to 9% of sudden cardiac deaths among athletes, said Dr. Jonathan Drezner, director of the University of Washington Medicine Center for Sports Cardiology, who advises the NCAA on cardiac issues. Thus covid adds a new risk. The NCAA alone reports more than 480,000 athletes. To provide a sense of scale: If all of them got covid and even 1% were at risk of heart problems, that’s 4,800 athletes.

Waiting for More Data

Doctors are now waiting for the release of data pooled from thousands of college athletes screened after having covid last year. The American Heart Association and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine have created a national registry to track covid cases and heart disease in NCAA athletes, with more than 3,000 athletes enrolled, while the Big Ten conference is running its own registry.

That registry data may eventually help parse who is most at risk for heart complications, target who needs to be screened and improve the reliability of the tests. Doctors may discover that some symptoms are better indicators of risk than others. And down the road, genetic testing or other types of tests could identify who is most vulnerable.

But will smaller schools have the resources and know-how to screen all their athletes?

“How about all the junior colleges, all the Division III programs, the Division II programs?” Martinez said. “A lot of them are saying, ‘Look, forget it. If we have do all this extra testing, we can’t do it.’”

He said the new pro sports data should reassure those colleges and even high schools, because the vast majority of young, healthy athletes who contract covid generally have mild or asymptomatic infections, and won’t need further testing.

The same guidelines apply to recreational athletes. Those with mild or asymptomatic covid can slowly resume exercising once their symptoms resolve without much concern. Those with moderate or severe cases should talk to their doctors before returning to sports.

Concerns for Small Schools

Large, wealthy universities like Vanderbilt have cutting-edge medical facilities with the resources and expertise to properly interpret cardiac MRIs. Smaller schools could struggle to get their athletes screened.

“There’s only a small number of centers around the country that have the true expertise to be able to effectively do cardiac MRIs on athletes,” said Dr. Dermot Phelan, a sports cardiologist with Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. “And the reality is that those systems are already stretched trying to deal with normal clinical data. If we were to add a huge population of athletes on top of that, I think we would stretch the medical system significantly.”

Some schools with limited resources for testing could decide to bench athletes recovering from moderate or severe covid rather than risk a devastating event. Others could allow athletes to resume playing once they’ve recovered, and then monitor them for signs of cardiac complications. Many NCAA schools added automated external defibrillators after Gathers’ death in case an athlete collapses during a game or practice.

“You think about all the 100,000 high school athletes out there whose parents are concerned: Do they even have access to anyone who knows something about this? On the other hand, they’re younger people who don’t get really sick with covid,” said Dr. James Udelson, a cardiologist with Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “There’s a concern about how much we don’t know.”

Legal Issues

Some schools may also worry about the liability of allowing players to return after a covid infection if they can’t get the proper cardiac screening.

“No matter what precautions a college or university takes in that regard, they can always be sued,” said Richard Giller, an attorney with the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm in Los Angeles. “The real question is, do they have liability? I think that’s going to depend on a number of factors, not the least of which is who recommended that student athletes who contracted covid-19 return to play.”

He recommends that colleges not rely solely on doctors affiliated with the university but have student athletes see their own private physicians to make return-to-play decisions. Teams may also ask players to sign waivers to the effect that if they return to play after a covid infection, they might face cardiac complications.

Some colleges asked students to sign waivers absolving the school if a player contracted covid. But the NCAA ruled that schools couldn’t make those waivers a requirement to play.

Doctors don’t know what might happen over the long run. With barely a year’s worth of experience with covid, it’s not clear whether the myocarditis seen on MRIs will resolve quickly, or whether there might be lingering effects that cause complications years later.

That leaves many concerned about what we still don’t know about covid and the athlete’s heart, as well as the handful of cases that might elude detection.

“You can take a cohort of athletes and put them through every single cardiac test and come out the other end, and one of them will die someday,” Phelan said. “The reality is there’s nothing we can do to be 100% guaranteed.”

ESPN’s Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

What Covid Means for the Athlete’s Heart published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[stephenmccull]

What Covid Means for the Athlete’s Heart

For sports fans across the country, the resumption of the regular sports calendar has signaled another step toward post-pandemic normality. But for the athletes participating in professional, collegiate, high school or even recreational sports, significant unanswered questions remain about the aftereffects of a covid infection.

This story also ran on ESPN. It can be republished for free.

Chief among those is whether the coronavirus can damage their hearts, putting them at risk for lifelong complications and death. Preliminary data from early in the pandemic suggested that as many as 1 in 5 people with covid-19 could end up with heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, which has been linked to abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death.

Screening studies conducted by college athletic programs over the past year have generally found lower numbers. But these studies have been too small to provide an accurate measure of how likely athletes are to develop heart problems after covid, and how serious those heart issues may be.

Without definitive data, concerns arose that returning to play too soon could expose thousands of athletes to serious cardiac complications. On the other hand, if concerns proved overblown, the testing protocols could unfairly keep athletes out of competition and subject them to needless testing and treatment.

“The last thing we want is to miss people that we potentially could have detected, and have that result in bad outcomes — in particular, the sudden death of a young athlete,” said Dr. Matthew Martinez, director of sports cardiology at Atlantic Health’s Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey and an adviser to several professional sports leagues. “But we also need to look at the flip side and the potential negatives of overtesting.”

With millions of Americans playing high school, college, professional or master’s level sports, even a low rate of complications could result in significant numbers of affected athletes. And that could prompt a thorny discussion of how to balance the risk of a small percentage of players who could be in danger against the continuation of sports competition as we know it.

Limited Impact on Pro Sports

Data released from professional sports leagues in early March provided at least some reassurance that the problem may not be as great as initially feared. Pro athletes playing football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, soccer and hockey were screened for heart problems before returning from covid infections. The players underwent an electrical test of their heart rhythms, a blood test that checks for heart damage and an ultrasound exam of their hearts. Out of 789 athletes screened, 30 showed some cardiac abnormality in those initial tests and were referred for a cardiac MRI to provide a better picture of their heart. Five of those, less than 1% of athletes screened, showed inflammation of the heart that sidelined them for the remainder of their seasons.

The researchers compiling the data did not name the players, although some have disclosed their own diagnoses. Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodríguez returned to the mound this spring after missing the 2020 season following his covid and myocarditis diagnoses. Similarly, Buffalo Bills tight end Tommy Sweeney was close to returning from a foot injury when he was diagnosed with myocarditis in November.

In the college ranks, many assumed Keyontae Johnson — a 21-year-old forward on the University of Florida men’s basketball team who collapsed on the court in December, months after contracting covid — might have developed myocarditis. The Gainesville Sun reported that month he had been diagnosed with myocarditis, but his family issued a statement in February saying the incident was not covid-related and declined to release additional details.

Consequences Still Unclear

Doctors still don’t know how significant those MRI findings of myocarditis may be for athletes. Tests looking for rare medical events often generate more false positives than true positives. And without comparing the results with those of athletes who didn’t have covid, it is hard to determine what changes to attribute to the virus — or what may just be an effect of athletic training or other causes.

Training significantly changes athletes’ hearts, and what might look concerning in another patient could be perfectly normal for an elite athlete. Many endurance athletes, for example, have larger than average left ventricles and pump out a lower percentage of blood with each contraction. That would be a warning sign for patients who aren’t highly trained athletes.

“You can definitely have what we call the gray zone, where extreme forms of athletic cardiac remodeling can actually look a little bit like pathology,” said Dr. Jonathan Kim, a sports cardiologist at Emory University in Atlanta. “Covid has introduced a new challenge to this. Is it because they’re a cross-country runner or is it because they just had covid?”

Moreover, myocarditis is generally diagnosed based on symptoms — chest pain, shortness of breath, heart muscle weakness or electrical dysfunction — and then confirmed by MRI. It isn’t clear whether MRI findings that look like myocarditis in the absence of those symptoms are just as concerning.

“They have normal physical exams. They have normal cardiograms. Nothing else is going on,” said Dr. Robert Bonow, a cardiologist at Northwestern University and editor of JAMA Cardiology. “But when you order an MRI as part of a research study, you start seeing very subtle changes, because the MRI is very sensitive.”

Were they finding “abnormalities” simply because they were looking? Even in patients who die of covid, the rate of myocarditis is very low, Bonow said.

“So what’s going on with the athletes? Is it something related to the fact that they had an infection, or is it something which is very nonspecific, related to covid but not damage to the heart?” he said. “There’s still a great deal of uncertainty.”

Sports cardiologists involved in the pro sports data collection and in writing screening guidelines for athletes said the fact that players were able to resume their seasons without serious heart complications suggests the initial concern was overblown. Of the players who had mild or asymptomatic cases of covid, none was ultimately found to have myocarditis, and none experienced ongoing heart complications through 2020. Many completed their 2020 season and have already started their next one.

“We overcalled it,” Martinez said. “It shows what our guidelines reflected: The prevalence of cardiac disease in this condition is unusual in the athletic population.”

Falling Through the Cracks

Those screening guidelines, published by a group of leading sports cardiologists in October, call for cardiac tests only for athletes with moderate or severe covid symptoms. Athletes with asymptomatic cases or those with mild symptoms that have gone away can return to play without the additional testing. The National Federation of State High School Associations and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine have put out similar guidelines for high school athletes.

But that approach would not flag players such as Demi Washington.

Washington, a 19-year old sophomore on Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball team, had a rather mild case of covid. She had shared a meal with two teammates, one of whom later turned out to be infected. Seven days into a two-week quarantine in a hotel off campus, Washington also tested positive, and had to isolate with a stuffy nose for an additional 10 days. She waited for her symptoms to get worse, but they never did.

“It felt like allergies,” she said.

But when her symptoms cleared and she returned to practice, the university required her to undergo several tests to ensure the virus had not affected her heart. The initial tests raised no concerns. An MRI, though, showed acute myocarditis.

Her season was over, but, more importantly, Washington, an athlete in prime physical condition, faced the possibility of losing her life. She learned about Hank Gathers, a 23-year-old Loyola Marymount basketball star who collapsed during a game in 1990 and died within hours. His autopsy confirmed an enlarged heart and myocarditis.

“That really put me on the edge of my seat,” Washington said. “I was like, ‘OK, I have to take this seriously, because I don’t want to end up like that.’”

For months, she had to keep her heart rate under 110 beats per minute. Before, she ran 5 miles a day. With the myocarditis diagnosis, she had to wear a heart monitor, and even a brisk walk could push her above that threshold.

“One time I was walking to the gym and I might have been walking a little fast,” Washington recalled. “My chest got really, really tight.”

By mid-January, however, another MRI showed the inflammation had cleared, and she has since resumed working out.

“I’m so grateful that Vanderbilt does the MRI, because without it, there’s no telling what could have happened,” she said.

She wondered how many other athletes have been playing with myocarditis and didn’t know it.

Cases like Washington’s raise questions about how aggressively to screen. Her condition was found only because Vanderbilt took a much more conservative approach than that recommended by current guidelines: It screened all athletes with cardiac MRIs after they had covid, regardless of the severity of their symptoms or their initial cardiac tests.

Of the 59 athletes screened post-covid, the university found two with signs of myocarditis. That’s just over 3%.

“Is the current rate of myocarditis that we’re seeing high enough to warrant ongoing cardiovascular screening?” asked Dr. Daniel Clark, a Vanderbilt sports cardiologist and lead author of an analysis of the school’s screening efforts. “Five percent is too much to ignore, in my opinion, but what is our societal threshold for not screening highly competitive athletes for myocarditis?”

Even though myocarditis is rare, studies have found that noncovid-related myocarditis causes up to 9% of sudden cardiac deaths among athletes, said Dr. Jonathan Drezner, director of the University of Washington Medicine Center for Sports Cardiology, who advises the NCAA on cardiac issues. Thus covid adds a new risk. The NCAA alone reports more than 480,000 athletes. To provide a sense of scale: If all of them got covid and even 1% were at risk of heart problems, that’s 4,800 athletes.

Waiting for More Data

Doctors are now waiting for the release of data pooled from thousands of college athletes screened after having covid last year. The American Heart Association and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine have created a national registry to track covid cases and heart disease in NCAA athletes, with more than 3,000 athletes enrolled, while the Big Ten conference is running its own registry.

That registry data may eventually help parse who is most at risk for heart complications, target who needs to be screened and improve the reliability of the tests. Doctors may discover that some symptoms are better indicators of risk than others. And down the road, genetic testing or other types of tests could identify who is most vulnerable.

But will smaller schools have the resources and know-how to screen all their athletes?

“How about all the junior colleges, all the Division III programs, the Division II programs?” Martinez said. “A lot of them are saying, ‘Look, forget it. If we have do all this extra testing, we can’t do it.’”

He said the new pro sports data should reassure those colleges and even high schools, because the vast majority of young, healthy athletes who contract covid generally have mild or asymptomatic infections, and won’t need further testing.

The same guidelines apply to recreational athletes. Those with mild or asymptomatic covid can slowly resume exercising once their symptoms resolve without much concern. Those with moderate or severe cases should talk to their doctors before returning to sports.

Concerns for Small Schools

Large, wealthy universities like Vanderbilt have cutting-edge medical facilities with the resources and expertise to properly interpret cardiac MRIs. Smaller schools could struggle to get their athletes screened.

“There’s only a small number of centers around the country that have the true expertise to be able to effectively do cardiac MRIs on athletes,” said Dr. Dermot Phelan, a sports cardiologist with Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina. “And the reality is that those systems are already stretched trying to deal with normal clinical data. If we were to add a huge population of athletes on top of that, I think we would stretch the medical system significantly.”

Some schools with limited resources for testing could decide to bench athletes recovering from moderate or severe covid rather than risk a devastating event. Others could allow athletes to resume playing once they’ve recovered, and then monitor them for signs of cardiac complications. Many NCAA schools added automated external defibrillators after Gathers’ death in case an athlete collapses during a game or practice.

“You think about all the 100,000 high school athletes out there whose parents are concerned: Do they even have access to anyone who knows something about this? On the other hand, they’re younger people who don’t get really sick with covid,” said Dr. James Udelson, a cardiologist with Tufts Medical Center in Boston. “There’s a concern about how much we don’t know.”

Legal Issues

Some schools may also worry about the liability of allowing players to return after a covid infection if they can’t get the proper cardiac screening.

“No matter what precautions a college or university takes in that regard, they can always be sued,” said Richard Giller, an attorney with the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm in Los Angeles. “The real question is, do they have liability? I think that’s going to depend on a number of factors, not the least of which is who recommended that student athletes who contracted covid-19 return to play.”

He recommends that colleges not rely solely on doctors affiliated with the university but have student athletes see their own private physicians to make return-to-play decisions. Teams may also ask players to sign waivers to the effect that if they return to play after a covid infection, they might face cardiac complications.

Some colleges asked students to sign waivers absolving the school if a player contracted covid. But the NCAA ruled that schools couldn’t make those waivers a requirement to play.

Doctors don’t know what might happen over the long run. With barely a year’s worth of experience with covid, it’s not clear whether the myocarditis seen on MRIs will resolve quickly, or whether there might be lingering effects that cause complications years later.

That leaves many concerned about what we still don’t know about covid and the athlete’s heart, as well as the handful of cases that might elude detection.

“You can take a cohort of athletes and put them through every single cardiac test and come out the other end, and one of them will die someday,” Phelan said. “The reality is there’s nothing we can do to be 100% guaranteed.”

ESPN’s Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

What Covid Means for the Athlete’s Heart published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[issuewire]

Mark A. Blum, MD, FACC, FSCAI, a Cardiologist with Cardiology Associates of Morristown, LLC

[x-ray-morristown-newjersey]

The concept of ultrasound

An ultrasound uses a high-frequency sound wave, which when reflects with the internal organs of the body, delivers an image of that part of the body. The most common usage of ultrasound can be found during the time of pregnancy. The finest part about the ultrasounds is that they are completely harmless to our body as they don’t use any kind of radiations. What they use is high-frequency sound waves, and those waves are not at all harmful to our body. Apart from evaluating fetal developments, ultra-scans are also used to detect problems like liver, kidney, heart or abdomen. The image that they provide is known as a sonogram. Some basic facts about ultrasound scans

Ultrasounds are quite safe to use, and they are widely used as well.

Majority of times, they are used to determine the progress during the time of pregnancy.

Several diagnosis and treatments are also done with the help of ultrasounds.

Before going for an ultrasound scan, you don’t have to go through any kind of special type of preparation.

The concept of ultrasound person, who conducts the process of ultrasound, is known as a sonographer and the images are interpreted by cardiologists, radiologists or any kind of other specialists. While doing an ultrasound scan, the sonographer holds a handheld, wand-like device named transducer, which the sonographer places in the skin of the patient.The sound from the ultrasound travels through the soft fluids and tissues and after that it bounces back after getting reflected on the denser surfaces. In this way, an ultrasound creates images. The term ultrasound refers to the sound, which has a frequency that cannot be heard by the human ears. In case of diagnostic purposes, the frequency range of ultrasound varies from 2 to 28 Megahertz. You must be thinking that higher frequencies of sound will provide you with the better quality of images, but the fact is the higher frequency will be instantly absorbed by the skin as well as other tissues.How an image is captured by an ultrasound scanLet us present with you an example to make you understand the concept of how ultrasound scan generates an image. Well, if you are doing an ultrasound scan of your heart, the sound will flow through the blood present in your heart chamber but if it hits any of the valves; it will just bounce back or echo.Well, the rate of bounce back of the ultrasound depends on the density of the object. The denser the object, the more it will bounce back.Different types of transducers used in the ultrasound scanWell, most of the times, the transducers are placed at the surface of the skin but there are several transducers that are placed internally on the body. Let us know about the different internal transducers:

Endovaginal transducer

Endorectal transducer

Transesophageal transducer

So, this is how ultrasound works, and this is all that you need to know about the ultrasound. And if you want to experience the finest quality of Ultrasound, Radiology Center at Harding is the place for you, which is residing at Morristown, New Jersey.

[phawareglobal]

Stephanie Volino - phaware® interview 242

Pulmonary hypertension caregiver Stephanie Volino discusses her daughter Anna's road to a PH diagnosis following the loss of her other daughter, Sophia, who passed away from pulmonary hypertension after one week of finding out that she had this horrific disease.

My name is Stephanie Volino. I am a caregiver of a young lady, Anna Volino, who has pulmonary hypertension, since she was four years old. I am also a caregiver of a little two year old girl, Sophia-Lyn Volino, who passed away from pulmonary hypertension after one week of finding out that she had this horrific disease.

The first time we heard pulmonary hypertension was when my daughter Sophia was born in August of 2005. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and I had to stop mid-push to allow the doctor to unwrap the cord and then when she finally did come out and they cut her cord, they realized her breathing was labored so they whisked her away very quickly and she was put into the NICU on oxygen and the doctor said that it was “like a pulmonary hypertension.”

They really didn't make it sound like a huge deal, that it was just like, “Oh, you know, this will get rectified after a few days on oxygen.” She did a test in her car seat, where she had to be hooked up to oxygen monitors and heart monitors and she passed with flying colors. They said "you're good to go, you can go home" and we gave the nurses and doctors hugs and we left and we went on our merry way and we had our beautiful family of four because my daughter Anna was born in 2003, so she was two years old and we had a newborn.

We took her home and life proceeded as normal. She was a really good baby. She ate, she slept, she produced a lot of dirty diapers. Anna was a little mommy to her. She always wanted to read to her and show her how to roll over and do all that big sister stuff. Then around four months of age, just like her sister, because Anna at four months of age just went blue a little bit. They started holding their breath. Like we did with Anna, we brought Sophia to the hospital. They put her on oxygen, they checked her saturation level. They wanted to admit her. Her coloring was still off. They did a series of tests and then a few days later we went home. They said to follow up with our pediatrician, which we did. Then everything was cleared. She was fine. We just thought it was a strange coincidence that both girls did this around the same time, four months of age.

We followed through with the doctors. We did everything as parents that we thought we should do and then when they medically cleared them both we thought that everything was fine.

In the spring of 2007, she started spitting up her food a little bit, so we brought her to the doctor because we were a little concerned. We thought maybe she had a food allergy. Our doctor thought maybe it was just acid reflux so he gave her pepsin. We were giving her the pepsin and it was still happening frequently, that she was spitting up. All of a sudden it was her two year check-up and when I went back, the night before, she had a violent episode where she projectile vomited straight across the table. I looked at my husband and we knew something was off . She was just limp in my arms and that was at the forefront of our conversation the next day with the pediatrician.

I said "I don't think the pepsin is working that well and maybe we should do further testing". He agreed. The doctor said "let's do an endoscopy, we're just going to put her under general anesthesia and take a snip of that tissue and see what it is". So we took her in the next day. It seemed normal enough, to be an in and out procedure, very quick, but he came out and he said when they put her under, she went blue and they rushed a cardiologist in to revive her. That's where our story with pulmonary hypertension really started.

The doctors at Staten Island University Hospital sent us from there to Cornell then onto New York Presbyterian Stanley Morgan Children’s Hospital. This happened all in the same day, and that's when, when we finally met Dr. Erika Berman Rosenzweig at the children's hospital. We were there for a week. They did tests. They had her on oxygen and then she went [to get a right heart] catheterization on September 19th 2007. She made it out of the catheterization, but Dr. Berman came out and said she had severe pulmonary hypertension, that the right side of her heart was enlarged. Her pressures where like 130 and they were trying out medications on her and she just couldn't handle it. Then that night, she spiked 107 fever and they had her on ice. They had us in the room and she began to crash and they worked on her and worked on her and then she just didn't make it.

We went back to the children's hospital with Anna. They checked her out. They said she had a tiny hole in her heart, but after all that we went through, that we really didn't have to address it at the moment, that we could just wait and do it within time. Dr. Berman also said that normally kids would get something like that taken care of around Anna's age, which was she was four at the time, because it was less traumatic to just do it, get it over with, than doing it when they got older.

We took all that into consideration. We said we were going to wait for little while. Then just a little time passed, a couple of months. Actually, she was getting ready to go into kindergarten, and I'd just registered her for kindergarten and then I thought to myself, “let me talk to [my husband] Joe about this, about getting that hole taken care of before she started kindergarten.” We didn't have to wait until she got older and she wouldn't have to panic because her sister died from a heart related disease. Even though it was something completely different, we didn't want her to worry about it.

We decided to go to a cardiologist in Morristown. He saw a blip on the screen when he did her tests and he said we had to go back to Dr. Berman. We were still in that numb state. We were traumatized. We were angry. We were upset. Our head was still spinning. It wasn't fully sinking in, because it was such a whirlwind when Sophia was diagnosed, 7 days until she passed. So we were still trying to figure it all out and what ground we stood on, because it didn't even feel like we had any ground to stand on and then we had this little girl.  That was the reason that I think, we survived initially, because we did have her at home and we were still parents and we had to raise her and then all of a sudden with the doctor saying “you have to go back” it was just shocking. I didn't know what to think, I just couldn't believe this was all happening again.

I've constantly felt choked up, like I couldn't breathe because it was unbelievable that we went through this one time and we were so young, early 30's and life was ahead of us and we lost one daughter and now somebody's telling me that my other daughter’s life might be in peril. It was an incredibly tough time to get through.

We repeated the same steps. She went into the catheterization and her diagnosis was much milder than Sophia's. They were almost at the opposite end of the spectrum, so to say. Even though she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension and we were devastated over that, we were just so elated that she was alive and that we got to take her home and take care of this. So we just put our best foot forward and we kept moving right along.

Doing the blood work every month was a struggle, she didn't want to go, she didn't want to get the blood work done. Then one day, miraculously, one of the phlebotomists said "let's sing happy birthday while I stick the needle in and you can blow out the candle when the needle goes in.” She sang happy birthday and he said "OK, now blow out your candle." She blew on her arm and in went the needle and it was like, we did that every time ever since, because that was like our little miracle for the moment because then she wasn't crying or screaming and I didn't have to hold her down. Then we would trek into the hospital, into New York quarterly to get her checked and when we would get her right heart caths done, every time without fail, these nurses would try and put us in the same recovery room that Sophia was in and Joe and I just couldn't do it.

I don't even know if I can say it shouldn't have made a difference, but it definitely did make a difference. Every time Joe would say, "I'm sorry," and explain the story. Then they would look at us, "Oh, oh, oh," because they have so many patients and everything. Maybe that was Sophia's way of saying “I'm here for my sister,” because we always considered her after that as Anna's guardian angel. I mean, without Sophia and her diagnosis and everything that happened, I don't know if we would have figured this out in Anna for a very long time, because her case was mild. God know where we would be or when we would have found out or how we would have found out. So Sophia, after she passed, was always looked at as Anna's guardian angel.

For a four year old to face all that she had to and then to face her own diagnosis and take medicine and go into the hospital and get picked and prodded and poked at and do all that, I look at her in awe for all that she's been through.

We look at it from the perspective of, we just try to keep moving on and look at it in a positive way and we wouldn't be here today without the doctors and everybody that's fighting for pulmonary hypertension and looking to cure this horrific disease. One day children like Sophia, they will survive. Every single one of them will. Those doctors are their super heroes. They fight every day for these kids. They really do. They will win. We will all win because of them, and because of our community.

Children like Anna are thriving today. When we first started out there were maybe three medications and now there's so many more, so much more we know. 10 years later, 12 years later, we just have to keep moving forward and supporting each other and supporting them. We're very appreciative of them, we put our trust and hope in them every day.

I'm Stephanie Volino and I'm aware that I'm rare.

Learn more about pulmonary hypertension trials at www.phaware.global/clinicaltrials. Never miss an episode with the phaware® podcast app. Follow us @phaware on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube & Linkedin Engage for a cure: www.phaware.global/donate #phaware #ClinicalTrials @antidote_me 

Listen and View more on the official phaware™ podcast site

[abdallahalhakim]

Doctors should be paid well. But how much is enough?

American physicians deserve to be paid well for their work. As a physician, myself, I know what it takes to become a doctor in the U.S. Four years of late nights in the college library in hopes of achieving a GPA commensurate with medical school admission; then four years of medical school, which makes the college work load feel light in retrospect; then, in my case, three years of residency training, where an 80-hour work week begins, making everything before feel like a vacation. And in the case of more specialized physicians than me, like orthopedic surgeons or cardiologists, clinical training continues another handful of years. Moreover, becoming a physician in the U.S. carries enormous financial costs, with many Americans graduating from medical school with six-figure debt.

So I support paying American physicians well for their labors. But how well? Is more than $535,668 the right amount for the average —  the average! — orthopedic surgeon to make? Should dermatologists — whose training is far less intense and prolonged than many other physicians — make a average of $400,898?

The U.S. has a health care spending problem, and soaring health care incomes are partly responsible. Importantly, those incomes are by no means limited to physicians. In 2014, the CEO of Aetna, an American health insurance company, brought home more than $15 million. In 2012, the CEO of the nonprofit Atlantic Health System in Morristown, New Jersey made more than $10 million.

Continue reading ...

Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.

[Read More ...] http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2017/10/doctors-paid-well-much-enough.html

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Leading Cardiologist in Morristown, NJ – Expert Heart Care Awaits!

Searching for a top cardiologist in Morristown, NJ? Look no further! At Cardiology Associates of Morristown, our skilled cardiologists offer expert diagnosis, treatment, and management of all heart conditions. From routine screenings to advanced cardiac care, we provide personalized treatment plans tailored to your needs. Experience compassionate and cutting-edge heart care right here in Morristown. Contact us today to schedule your consultation and prioritize your heart health!

[mrmarknewman]

Doctors should be paid well. But how much is enough?

American physicians deserve to be paid well for their work. As a physician, myself, I know what it takes to become a doctor in the U.S. Four years of late nights in the college library in hopes of achieving a GPA commensurate with medical school admission; then four years of medical school, which makes the college work load feel light in retrospect; then, in my case, three years of residency training, where an 80-hour work week begins, making everything before feel like a vacation. And in the case of more specialized physicians than me, like orthopedic surgeons or cardiologists, clinical training continues another handful of years. Moreover, becoming a physician in the U.S. carries enormous financial costs, with many Americans graduating from medical school with six-figure debt.

So I support paying American physicians well for their labors. But how well? Is more than $535,668 the right amount for the average —  the average! — orthopedic surgeon to make? Should dermatologists — whose training is far less intense and prolonged than many other physicians — make a average of $400,898?

The U.S. has a health care spending problem, and soaring health care incomes are partly responsible. Importantly, those incomes are by no means limited to physicians. In 2014, the CEO of Aetna, an American health insurance company, brought home more than $15 million. In 2012, the CEO of the nonprofit Atlantic Health System in Morristown, New Jersey made more than $10 million.

Continue reading ...

Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.

from KevinMD.com http://ift.tt/2xbCyEr

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Looking for the best Heart Surgeons in Morristown? Visit Cardiology Associates of Morristown. Specializing in advanced procedures and compassionate care, our team ensures superior outcomes for all cardiac conditions. Contact us.

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Looking for expert heart care in Morristown? Our latest blog covers everything you need to know about top heart specialists in the area, including the cardiac surgeons at Morristown Hospital and comprehensive Morristown cardiology services. Discover how these skilled professionals offer personalized care, advanced diagnostics, and life-saving treatments to keep your heart healthy. Don’t wait—learn more about your options for cardiovascular care today!

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

When it comes to heart health, you deserve the best. Our experienced heart specialists in Morristown provide personalized care to diagnose and treat a wide range of heart conditions. From cholesterol management to advanced cardiac procedures, we offer comprehensive services to keep your heart in top condition. Schedule an appointment today and take control of your heart health. Call [Your Contact Info] to book your consultation.

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Trusted Heart Doctor in Morristown – Expert Cardiology Care

Searching for a reliable heart doctor in Morristown? At Cardiology Associates of Morristown, we provide expert heart care with a personalized approach. Our experienced cardiologists offer a full range of services, from routine check-ups to advanced treatments for heart disease, arrhythmia, high blood pressure, and more. We are committed to your heart health and well-being. Contact us today to schedule an appointment with a trusted heart doctor in Morristown!

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Discover top-tier cardiovascular care services in Morristown at Morristown Hospital, where expert cardiac surgeons provide comprehensive heart health solutions. From advanced diagnostics and preventative care to complex surgeries and rehabilitation, Morristown offers the latest in heart care. Learn how these services can help you maintain a healthy heart and improve your quality of life. Read more about the cutting-edge treatments available and how you can take control of your heart health today!

[cardiologyassociatesofmorrist]

Top Heart Surgeons in Morristown – Expert Cardiac Surgery & Care

If you're seeking experienced and compassionate heart surgeons in Morristown, look no further! Our team of skilled heart surgeons in Morristown specializes in a wide range of cardiac procedures, from minimally invasive surgeries to complex heart surgeries. With advanced technology and a patient-first approach, we ensure that your heart health is in the best hands. Whether you need surgery for coronary artery disease, valve issues, or other heart conditions, our expert team is here to provide the highest level of care.  Schedule a consultation with a top-rated heart surgeon in Morristown today!