Technology in Anesthesia

Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center (HHNM) and GE HealthCare announced HHNM as the first location in the United States to install GE HealthCare’s latest Allia Image Guided System (IGS) Pulse, which was designed for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. HHNM will use the Allia IGS Pulse system in its cardiac electrophysiology lab to plan, guide, and monitor the outcomes of electrophysiological procedures, such as cardiac ablations, cardiac catherizations, transcatheter aortic valve replacements, balloon, and coronary angioplasties and more.

Dr. Sean Mazer, electrophysiologist and president of the New Mexico Heart Institute/Lovelace Medical Group said, “We can accommodate patients of any size and the system provides us with a personalized workspace that meets our specific needs and preferences, resulting in shorter surgical time and better outcomes for our patients.”

The Allia IGS Pulse system provides imaging at the right dose for visible impact in complex cardiology interventions regardless of patient size, including large and bariatric patients with a BMI of greater than 30.

An international consortium of researchers led by University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto and University of Zurich have built the first-ever molecular atlas of the human brain vasculature at single-cell resolution, spanning from early development to adulthood and through disease stages such as brain tumors and brain vascular malformations.

In this study, researchers isolated blood vessels from human early developing brains, adult brains, brain tumors, and brain vascular malformations. They found that endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels and regulate interactions between the bloodstream and surrounding tissues, behave differently across various stages of brain development, and may have a more important role than previously understood within the brain’s neurovascular signaling networks.

Noted in the team’s findings:

• Researchers found that the vasculature in an adult healthy brain stops growing almost completely over time, but a brain tumor or a brain vascular malformation can reactivate blood vessel growth in the brain tissue, like the blood vessel growth in an early developing brain. This finding has never been described before.
• The research team also showed for the first time how the human brain vasculature differs from the vasculature of organs outside the brain, both during early brain development and in adulthood – and when disease arises, the brain vasculature becomes more like that of a peripheral organ.
• In disease, the typical features of the human brain vasculature are partially altered. One example is the endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier, which act as the brain’s “filter” and gatekeeper for substances, toxins, and drugs. Endothelial cells can also affect interactions with the body’s immune system. When disease occurs, these cells help to upregulate immune-specific properties, meaning that endothelial cells can evolve into “antigen-presenting cells,” triggering an immune response.

The hope is that if clinicians can one day combine these therapies targeting the vasculature with immunotherapies, they may be able to inhibit vascular growth and prolong patients’ survival.

Source: asamonitor.pub/4bGeL2R