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Heart Surgery and Treatment has come a long way.
New beating heart patch allows surgeons to restore function to damaged heart tissue by implanting the patch over the dead muscle and so it can remain active for a long time, providing more strength for contractions and a smooth path for the heart's electrical signals to travel through. These patches also secrete enzymes and growth factors that could help recovery of damaged tissue that hasn't yet died.
The cells for the beating heart patch are grown from human pluripotent stem cells
The researchers place stem cells at specific ratios into a jelly-like substance where they self-organize and grow into functioning tissue to become fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, endothelial and smooth muscle cells to form blood vessels
Where is the research being conducted?
Biomedical engineers at Duke University (North Carolina, USA) have created a fully functioning artificial human heart muscle large enough to patch over damage typically seen in patients who have suffered a heart attack. The advance takes a major step toward the end goal of repairing dead heart muscle in human patients. If you want to contact Duke for a cardiology consultation, surgery or to learn more about this research, we can help you schedule a consultation.
For decades, people all over the world have faced this dilemma and solved their problem with medical travel.
Unlike some human organs, the heart cannot regenerate itself after a heart attack. The dead muscle is often replaced by scar tissue that can no longer transmit electrical signals or contract, both of which are necessary for smooth and forceful heartbeats. But there's more to this than simply post heart attack treatment. When the heart muscle no longer functions properly, the end result is a disease called heart failure that affects over 12 million patients worldwide. New therapies, such as the one being developed at Duke are needed to prevent heart failure and its lethal complications.
Current clinical trials test the method of injecting stem cells derived from bone marrow, blood or the heart itself directly into the affected site in an attempt to replenish some of the damaged muscle. Although some positive effects are being realized from these treatments, their mechanisms are not fully understood. Fewer than one percent of the injected cells survive and remain in the heart, and even fewer become cardiac muscle cells. The scientists and researchers are hoping the large patches can be implanted over the dead muscle and remain active for a long time. This enables a "backup" to provide enhanced strength for contractions and a smooth path for the heart's electrical signals. These patches would also secrete enzymes and growth factors that could help recovery of damaged tissue that hasn't yet died. If the patch is not as strong as the original heart tissue a difference in strength could cause deadly arrhythmia.
Now, through Medical Tourism Journeys, you can access many clinical trials and breakthrough cardiac and cardiovascular procedures. Find a surgeon, a cardiologist, or primary investigative researcher, or get an unbiased second opinion from specialists all over the world with just a single call. Whether you have a definitive diagnosis or your are just starting to investigate your options, place a call to our experts, toll free, at +1.800.727.4160.
WHAT WE DO...
We offer a variety of services to our clients including
PROVIDER RESEARCH
We research and inspect each Approved provider clinic, hospital and translational research laboratory with which we coordinate care.
New technologies, treatments, and surgery approaches give hope to the patient with heart disease. Not all procedures and techniques are available in all locations. For this reason, medical travel is required to connect the patient to the care or treatment required or desired. We research the providers, their clinical outcomes, the laboratories and hospitals where they work, their statistics on patient safety and satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and how they use and create solutions, share expertise, and use new scientific and surgical techniques to create precise treatments, prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation.
We work with treatment and research Centers of Excellence in North America and Abroad
You may be surprised at the destination and treatment options you have through Medical Tourism Journeys. We partner with best of breed private, clinics, hospitals, same-day surgery centers, and academic medical centers that are affiliated with internationally renowned universities and world-class medical centers. We review their accreditations, certifications, outcomes, safety and security practices, and patient satisfaction survey scores prior to inviting them to join Mercury Health Travel's Approved Provider Network, a proprietary globally-integrated health delivery system® owned by Mercury Healthcare International. This is the exclusive network of medical, dental, rehab and wellness providers and health facilities offered to Medical Tourism Journeys' individual consumer clients.
TRAVEL PLANNING
Whether you'd like to fly or drive to your treatment destination, Medical Tourism Journeys will plan all your medical travel.
Our travel coordinators will arrange every aspect of your medical travel journey to your medical tourism destination. We begin with a telephone interview to learn your preferences, medical travel requirements, budget, and other details. Specially-trained medical travel agents use this information to plan your driving route and hotel stops along the way or to book your travel itinerary with airlines using cash or mileage awards. We are not paid commissions on any travel arrangements by airlines or car rental or hotel suppliers and we are committed to saving you as much money as possible since we aren't driven by percentage commission kickbacks.
We apply any available discounts and incentives we can find to save you money.
We can often save from 10-60% on airline tickets and access special discounted hotel rates exclusively available to our clients. We prefer to pass savings on to you rather than receive commission payments from medical travel suppliers. They are usually happy to pass on exclusive savings to our clients if they are not required to pay commission payments for referrals. This is one way we outperform most of our medical tourism competitors to the benefit of our clients.
OUTCOMES MONITORING
Clinical, cost, and patient satisfaction outcomes are three advanced metrics we review to select Approved providers.
When we select providers for our Approved provider network, we review their published clinical outcomes and comparative costs. We also conduct our own clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction by direct interview and tracking for each client we assist. This extended care continuity and measurement is another way we differentiate ourselves from medical tourism companies throughout the world. The tool we use was developed by the Rand Corporation, specifically for use by healthcare providers. These measures rely upon patient self-reporting through quick, focused interviews. This is the same tool that is widely utilized by managed care organizations and by Medicare for routine monitoring and assessment of care outcomes in adult patients.
Before you decide on a medical travel facilitator, ask if your medical tourism coordinator receives commissions or marketing fees.
As patient advocates, we provide out clients with valuable, unbiased, advice about healthcare providers, facilities, destinations, costs, all without conflicts of interest. The fees we charge include fair compensation for specialized medical travel case management. As a result, you'll often pay less by working with us and get far more service and convenience - which is critical when you are suffering from heart problems and are focused on improving your heart health and quality of life to enjoy time with friends and family on your terms and activity level.