TAVR poor survival with severe aortic stenosis

TAVR decreases overall survival in patients with severe aortic stenosis

Here's the first paragraph
Overall survival of patients with severe aortic stenosis assigned transcatheter aortic valve replacement decreased drastically 24 months after surgery compared with patients who underwent surgical aortic valve replacement or sutureless valves.

Bellezza Tempo review

My review of Bellezza Tempo was published in the Amalgamated Houses Community News of March 2015. I have reprinted the review here because someone sent me an email and asked me if I had written it just to get published. No, I wrote it because I was pleased with the haircut I got.

This winter has been very cold.  We’ve all had plans disrupted because of the weather.  One of my delayed excursions was to get a hair cut.  For years I have been going to a beauty salon in Manhattan but this winter I wasn’t able to go there and by February my hair had metamorphosed into a tangled mess.  On Saturday, February 8, there was a break in the weather and I hurried out to run errands.  It began to snow again and for a while it was very heavy.  I decided to cut short my shopping and go home.  On the way back I passed a beauty parlor and it looked empty, Saturday is usually a very busy day.  Hmm, perhaps I’ll get a haircut I thought.  I got off the bus by Bellezza Tempo, and walked inside.  I saw several young women under the dryers but no one was getting a haircut.  A beautician was available.  I got a shampoo and cut.  It came out really well, I’m now set until spring.  These stylists can do hair for both young and old and I suggest you give them a try.

TAVR you have a good chance of dying within 3 years, at least a 24% chance within the first year

Fewer people are getting coronary artery stents, so TAVR is the new cash cow for interventional cardiologists.

26% 1-year death, stroke rate after TAVR

Causes and timing of death during long-term follow-up after transcatheter aortic valve replacement - American Heart Journal

Here's an article about how hospitals in their advertising for TAVR downplay the risks.
U.S. hospitals tout TAVR's benefits, downplay risks
By: MITCHEL L. ZOLER. Cardiology News Digital Network Jan 13, 2015
If patients seek out information online about transcatheter aortic
valve replacement, they'll read mostly about the procedure's benefits
and see much less about its risks, according to a survey of 317 U.S.
hospital websites done in spring 2014.
Close examination of the information available for transcatheter aortic
valve replacement (TAVR) on the websites of U.S. hospitals that perform
the procedure revealed that 99% of the 262 hospitals with websites that
described TAVR mentioned at least one benefit from the procedure, while
26% mentioned at least one risk, Dr. Mark D. Neuman and his associates
reported in a research letter published online on Jan. 12 (JAMA Internal
Medicine 2015:[doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.7392]).
"Our findings suggest that web-based advertising of TAVR to the public
by hospitals may understate the established risks of this procedure and
provide little context for the magnitude of those risks to inform patient
decisionmaking. Hospitals may promote appropriate use of TAVR by
presenting more balanced information regarding TAVR's risks and benefits,"
wrote Dr. Neuman, an anesthesiologist at the University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia, and his coauthors.
During May-June 2014 they reviewed the websites for each of the 317 U.S.
hospitals listed as sites that offer TAVR by the Society of Thoracic
Surgeons and the American College of Cardiology. Fifty-five of the
hospitals' websites did not have their own English-language web page
that mentioned TAVR. Of the 262 U.S. TAVR centers with a web page that
described the procedure, 260 mentioned at least one benefit, most
commonly the reduced degree of invasiveness of the procedure compared with
open-surgery valve replacement, which appeared on 250 (95%) of the websites.
Of the 69 websites that mentioned at least one risk, they most commonly cited
stroke, on 18% of the sites, followed by vascular complications, on 14%, and
death, on 12%. In addition, the hospital sites supplied numerical
quantification for benefits more frequently than for risks.
mzoler@frontlinemedcomcom
On Twitter @mitche1zo1er
Copyright © 2015 Frontline Medical Communication, LLC. All rights
reserved. This page was printed from www.ecardiologynews.com.
For reprint inquires, call 877-652-5295, ext. 102.

Dust Mitigation Tower 1

The Oculostenotic Reflex

The definition is  “Any blockage you see is a blockage you treat, even if evidence suggests no benefit.” 

This is the article see-it-stent-it-the-oculostenotic-reflex

Donations vs Diseases that kill us

A balcony reconstruction that ballooned in cost

Men of Steel Repairing Structural Issues at a New Rochelle Co-op | Co-op & Condo Boards | Habitat Magazine

A very difficult situation, but better than losing your home.

When you can't access your balcony

Here is an account of one person who sued when they didn't have access to the shared terrace space they were paying for
Access Denied

Here's another article featured in the Brick Underground that gives you even more insight into what a co-op board can and can't do.
More legal judgments

My reason for providing links to this information is that these stories imply that Amalgamated Cooperators who have lost access to their balconies have little or no legal recourse.  The work is progressing, it does not appear that these repairs will last more than a couple of years.

Balcony Restoration, continued

NYS repeatedly fails nursing home patients

May 18, 2014, Jessie Thompson was found at Penn Station in Manhattan.

Since I first posted these comments, Jessie Thompson, diagnosed with dementia, walked out the door of Jewish Lifecare Services in the Bronx.  This was on Sunday, May 4, 2014.  As of May 15, 2014 she has not been found.
Miguel Canatini, suffering from depression and schizophrenia,  was in the care of Daughters of Jacob in the Bronx.  On a field trip to a restaurant on City Island,  May 13, 2014 walked away.  He uses a walker and has one leg.  Obviously the caretakers from Daughters of Jacob failed miserably.  Thank you Bronx 12 News for not forgetting Jessie Thompson and Miguel Canatini.

This was posted on February 27, 2014
Suffolk Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing

Here is a quote from the news report on NBC NY

In recent years, New York state has steadily relaxed the number of penalties levied against long-term care facilities.

According to data compiled by the Long Term Care Community Coalition, the Health Department issued 142 enforcement actions against nursing homes in 2007. In 2011, the number was down to 81. Last year there were 27 enforcement actions against New York nursing homes totaling just over $217,000 in fines. Of those, the Suffolk Center was found responsible for just over $36,000.

The New York Health Department declined to share any reason for the drop in enforcement actions against nursing homes.

New York is also one of few states that have no law establishing a minimum number of assistants per nursing home resident. A bill in the New York legislature called the “Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act” sought to change that, but it stalled in committee last year.

A Trip to JoAnn's should not have been advertised in this bulletin

No one got permission from Phyllis, who organized the trip to Jo-Ann's, before someone asked the Co-Op to post the message.  This caused a big screw up.

Again, St. Jude Medical being investigated for kickbacks

st-jude-discloses-another-doj-cardiac-kickback-investigation

Amalgamated Houses, balcony railing

Mr. Zsebedics, the manager, showing the new railing.

Physicians fail to give patients a true picture of having an ICD

Here's a quote from the article

Trained observers faulted 18 of the 22 cardiologist-patient interviews because the cardiologists didn’t address, minimized, or outright denied quality of life issues and the long-term consequences of ICD therapy, including increased risks for anxiety and depression as well as for inappropriate shocks

Physician/patient communication on ICDs deemed problematic : Cardiology News

Increased risk of falls in the elderly on blood pressure medications

Falls, Hypertension Meds and the Elderly

Wingspan stent a danger to sufferers of intracranial atherosclerosis

This is the scary story
stent-remains-available-despite-trial-showing-dangers

Possible replacement for the Holter monitor

iRhythm ZIO patch

This patch is worn for two weeks on the chest and then sent back to the lab for analysis.  It records ones heart rhythm while you go about your daily routine.  Early testing indicates greater accuracy than the Holter monitor.  It would be nice if it does prove out.

Abbott Laboratories kickbacks

Reuters has the following news story:
Abbott Labs settles with U.S. over kickback claim

Beware the stent industry

Stents Lose in Comparisons With Surgery and Medical Therapy

This is an article by Larry Husten in Cardiobrief.  He is a reliable source of information.

Cardiotoxity of Anticancer Drugs and Radiation

Chemotherapy for cancer can lead to cardiomyopathy. Our current state of knowledge is that chemotherapy is a shotgun approach to treating cancer. Many more cells than cancer cells are affected. Among the chemotherapy drugs that can cause heart problems are the anthracyclines, a class of chemotherapy drugs that includes doxorubicin (Adriamycin) and daunorubicin (Cerubidine). There are other chemical agents that also have these terrible effects.
Radiation treatments for cancer can also create serious risks for the heart.
Some large medical centers are developing programs to treat the heart damaging effects of chemotherapy. In other words, yet another money maker for the facilities. When will we see more concern for the whole person?
Here's the link for the Heart Failure Society of America