April 18th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Research
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Thanks to the wonders of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), amazing images of “heart strings” — the muscle fiber orientation of the left ventricle of the heart — have been obtained. According to the University of Oxford:
The image was produced using a branch of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The technique tracks the diffusion of water throughout the myocardium (the heart’s muscular wall comprising interconnected sheets of muscle cells called myocytes). Due to the way the myocytes are organized, the movement of water is restricted, so tracking the location of water molecules can reveal valuable information about the structure of the heart in a non-invasive way.
Nice.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
April 11th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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Is the need for cookbook medicine being used as a ploy to bar cardiologists from practicing at competing hospital systems in Colorado? An excerpt from the Reporter Herald:
Banner Health, the owner of McKee Medical Center in Loveland and the operator of North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, soon will bar cardiologists who are not on the Banner payroll from practicing at the Greeley hospital. The denial of hospital privileges to cardiologists outside the Phoenix-based Banner system is the latest step in carving up the heart of the Northern Colorado health care market, where two dominant hospital groups — Banner and Poudre Valley Health System — vie for shares. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
April 7th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
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Thanks to reader “m.scott” for alerting me to the latest Corporate Hall of Shame award. Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) of Texas is the winner for it’s egregious denial of care for a 10-day-old baby who was born with a congenital heart defect. Coverage for surgery to treat transposition of the great arteries was denied for — are you ready for this — a “pre-existing condition.” The baby’s parents had previously purchased coverage for their two other children, but were denied coverage for their newborn baby.
Denial of care for children will not be allowed when the new healthcare reform laws go into effect. Until then, it’s business as usual for the likes of BCBS of Texas.
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
April 7th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Primary Care Wednesdays
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With the prospect of 32 million new patients clamoring for care comes sorting out who will see them all. New medical schools are opening and students say they relish the idea of entering a market that will demand their services. American College of Physicians member Manoj Jain, M.D., offers a more tempered view of how the fallout might affect primary care. (AP, American Medical News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Memphis Commercial Appeal)
Even Hawaii has a shortage, especially in primary care, but also cardiology and orthopedic surgery. It’s hard to believe recruiters couldn’t sell Hawaii as a destination. (Honolulu Advertiser)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
April 5th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
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Researchers from the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle have published an article in the latest New England Journal of Medicine suggesting technological and regulatory actions that they hope will increase the security and privacy of implantable medical devices.
As has been reported earlier, implantable pacemakers, defibrillators, and similar devices are subject to wireless hacking that may influence their functionality. Although a lip-smacking target for devious hackers, an actual incident where a person’s implant has been interfered with is yet to be reported.
NEJM: Improving the Security and Privacy of Implantable Medical Devices…
Flashback: Implant Hacking Possible, Not Probable…Yet
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
