Ethicon Media Monitoring 06/28/16

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1. Cardiac patch could be a better pacemaker, help with cardiac drug testing

   Jun 27, 2016 | Fierce Medical Devices

   By Alyssa Huntley
   
   
   A "bionic" cardiac patch has been developed by researchers at Harvard. Charles Lieber, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard, and postdoctoral fellow Xiaochuan Dai co-authored a study regarding the cardiac patch, which was published in Nature Nanotechnology.
2. Vaginal pessary beneficial in pelvic organ prolapse

   Jun 27, 2016 | Medical Xpress

   (HealthDay)—For women with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP), use of vaginal pessary in addition to pelvic floor exercises is associated with improvements in prolapse symptoms and quality of life, according to a study published in the July issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Online Sources

1. Cardiac patch could be a better pacemaker, help with cardiac drug testing

   Jun 27, 2016 | Fierce Medical Devices

   By Alyssa Huntley

   A "bionic" cardiac patch has been developed by researchers at Harvard. Charles Lieber, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard, and postdoctoral fellow Xiaochuan Dai co-authored a study regarding the cardiac patch, which was published in Nature Nanotechnology.

   The patch is made up of nanoscale electronic scaffolds that are seeded with cardiac cells and is similar to a pacemaker in behavior. It offers electronic shocks to the heart to correct arrhythmia. However, researchers feel this patch could detect arrhythmia sooner.

   "Even before a person started to go into large-scale arrhythmia that frequently causes irreversible damage or other heart problems, this could detect the early-stage instabilities and intervene sooner," Lieber said in an announcement. "It can also continuously monitor the feedback from the tissue and actively respond."

   Because the patch is on the heart itself, rather than on the surface of the skin, it can use much lower voltages. Lieber also expressed a possibility of using the patch to monitor cardiac responses to cardiac drugs, or to help screen for drug effectiveness. The patch could also be used to study tissue behavior as it develops through aging, ischemia or differentiation of stem cells into mature cardiac cells.

   The patch has not been used on animals as of yet; however, Lieber said "we are interested in identifying collaborators already investigating cardiac patch implantation to treat myocardial infarction in a rodent model. I don't think it would be difficult to build this into a simpler, easily implantable system."

   Lieber is thinking about the future of the tech already and believes the technology could go hand in hand with the injectable electronics technology he previously developed.

   "It may actually be that, in the future, this won't be done with a surgical patch," he said. "We could simply do a co-injection of cells with the mesh, and it assembles itself inside the body, so it's less invasive."

   http://www.fiercemedicaldevices.com/story/cardiac-patch-could-be-better-pacemaker-help-cardiac-drug-testing/2016-06-27
   

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2. Vaginal pessary beneficial in pelvic organ prolapse

   Jun 27, 2016 | Medical Xpress

   (HealthDay)—For women with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP), use of vaginal pessary in addition to pelvic floor exercises is associated with improvements in prolapse symptoms and quality of life, according to a study published in the July issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

   Rachel Y.K. Cheung, M.B.Ch.B., from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial involving women with symptomatic stage I to III POP. Participants were randomized to pelvic floor exercise training (control group; 128 women) or to pelvic floor exercise training and insertion of a vaginal pessary (pessary group; 132 women).

   The researchers found that after 12 months, both groups had decreases in the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory of Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Organ Prolapse Impact Questionnaire of Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire scores, with higher mean score differences in the pessary group (both P < 0.01). Similarly low complication rates were seen in both groups.

   "We provided further evidence in non-surgical treatment for POP," the authors write. "Prolapse symptoms and quality of life were improved in women using a vaginal pessary in addition to pelvic floor exercises."

   http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-vaginal-pessary-beneficial-pelvic-prolapse.html
   

   
   

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