In the News…

A team of cardiologists, materials scientists, and bioengineers have created and tested a new type of implantable device for measuring the heart’s electrical output that they say is a vast improvement over current devices. The new device represents the first use of flexible silicon technology for a medical application.

"We believe that this technology may herald a new generation of active, flexible, implantable devices for applications in many areas of the body," says co-senior author Brian Litt, MD, an associate professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and also an associate professor of Bioengineering in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

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Silicon Electronics for Mapping Cardiac Electrophysiology »
New Sensors Stick to Organs to Monitor Health »

Within weeks, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania are planning to start offering some patients a genetic test to predict their heart-disease risk. The new test will pick up eight potential warning signs written in human DNA.

"Looking to the future, I think it will be a fairly routine thing," said Daniel Rader, director of Penn's Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine and Lipid Clinic. Penn is adopting genetic testing early partly because Rader and other doctors there helped discover some of these genetic risk factors.

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Personalized Medicine for the Heart »
NHLBI Awards $2.4M Recovery Grant to Daniel Rader »

People with a mild form of a common lung condition - even those without symptoms - are at increased risk for heart problems, according to a new study. This is the first report that mild, often-symptomless chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be linked to the heart’s pumping ability. COPD is the nation’s fourth leading cause of death. It affects an estimated 1 in 5 Americans over age 45, but as many as half the people who have it may not even be aware of it.

As described in the January 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers used breathing tests and imaging studies of the chest to assess the structure and function of each person’s heart and lungs. None of the participants had severe COPD or heart disease, but many were found to have mild abnormalities in heart and lung function.

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Meet Steve Kawut, MD »