This manuscript is a survey of the halachic attitudes toward organ transplant procedures from a living donor which can be defined as life-saving procedures for the recipient or at least life-prolonging proce-dures. Three fundamental problems concerning the halachic aspects of such transplantation are dis-cussed in detail: the danger to the donor, donation under coercion, and the sale of organs and tissues. The terms “halacha” and “Jewish law” are defined in the introduction.
As more reports emerge of improved mortality and morbidity rates in infants born at the edge of viability, there may be need to reassess protocols and recommendations that encourage only comfort care for infants who are born at less than 24 weeks’ gestation. Analysis of those studies that report extremely poor survival of these infants reveals that, all too often, the results are measures of a self-fulfilling prophesy that reflects a predetermined non-aggressive global policy of no resuscitation and minimal investment in intensive care. Furthermore, little distinction is made between high- and low-risk infants of the same gestational age despite repeated studies that indicate that one can identify - subpopulations that have as much as a 20-50% increased chance of surviving with little if any long-term neurodevelopmental impairment. Thus, the need to reassess current policies is discussed.
Results of clinical studies are often contradictory in real time, and in other instances therapies may be adopted due to information from clinical studies where the data may be premature or resulting from small studies. Much of the data may have inherent selection biases, and their interpretation may be confusing and difficult. The hematological literature is full of such examples, and this review will describe some such instances in the hope of introducing both a cautionary note and encouraging more precise description of study conditions as well as an appreciation of the importance of allowing data from clinical studies to mature. Several examples will be drawn from clinical studies in lymphomas, leukemia, and bone marrow transplantation.
The past few decades have seen many advances in the treatment of a variety of cancers. Unfortunately, for ovarian cancer, which is the most lethal type of gynecologic malignancy, no new therapeutic approach has been successfully introduced since the 1990s. Ovarian cancer is usually detected in later stages, when remission rates are high and tumors are resistant to chemotherapy. Little is known about the primary lesion in ovarian cancer. Recently, it has been shown that the origin of ovarian cancer can be cells from adjacent tissue or cells from other primary tumors, which make their way to the ovaries due to the unique nature of their microenvironment during ovulation. The tumor in ovarian cancer is heterogeneous and hierarchically organized. In this review, we discuss the role of ovarian cancer stem cells in the process of tumor formation and recurrence. We propose the need to shift the paradigm away from the classification of ovarian cancer as a single disease with a single cellular origin. Understanding the complexity of the disease will facilitate devising new methods for fighting this cancer and improving the life of many women inflicted with the disease.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), associated with vascular atherosclerosis, is the major cause of death in Western societies. Current risk estimation tools, such as Framingham Risk Score (FRS), based on evaluation of multiple standard risk factors, are limited in assessment of individual risk. The majority (about 70%) of the general population is classified as low FRS where the individual risk for CVD is often underestimated but, on the other hand, cholesterol lowering with statin is often excessively administered. Adverse effects of statin therapy, such as muscle pain, affect a large proportion of the treated patients and have a significant influence on their quality of life.
Coronary artery calcification (CAC), as assessed by computed tomography, carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT), and especially presence of plaques as assessed by B-mode ultrasound are directly correlated with increased risk for cardiovascular events and provide accurate and relevant information for individual risk assessment. Absence of vascular pathology as assessed by these imaging methods has a very high negative predictive value and therefore could be used as a method to reduce significantly the number of subjects who, in our opinion, would not benefit from statins and only suffer from their side-effects.
In summary, we suggest that in very-low-risk subjects, with the exception of subjects with low FRS with a family history of coronary artery disease (CAD) at young age, if vascular imaging shows no CAC or normal CIMT without plaques, statin treatment need not be administered.
Mitral valve regurgitation (MR) is the most prevalent valvular heart disease in the community, its prevalence increasing along with population aging and heart failure. While surgery remains the gold standard treatment in low-risk patients with degenerative MR, in high-risk patients and in those with functional MR, transcatheter procedures are emerging as an alternative therapeutic option. MitraClip is the device with the largest clinical experience to-date, as it offers sustained clinical benefit in selected patients. Further to MitraClip implantation, several additional approaches are developing, to better match with the extreme variability of mitral valve disease. Not only repair is evolving, initial steps towards percutaneous mitral valve implantation have already been undertaken and initial clinical experience has just started.
Medicine in the Middle Ages was, and ever since remained, one of the main preoccupations of the professionally restricted Jews. One of the medical dynasties on the Iberian peninsula was the Bueno (Bonus) family. Following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and their spread in Europe, these Iberian physicians became successful everywhere—just as the Buenos were in the Netherlands.
Cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent disease mainly in the Western society and becoming the leading cause of death worldwide. Standard methods by which health care providers screen for cardiovascular disease have only minimally reduced the burden of disease while exponentially increasing costs. As such, more specific and individualized methods for functionally assessing cardiovascular threats are needed to identify properly those at greatest risk, and appropriately treat these patients so as to avoid a fate such as heart attack, stroke, or death. Currently, endothelial function testing—in both the coronary and peripheral circulation—is well-established as being associated with the disease process and future cardiovascular events. Improving such testing can lead to a reduction in the risk of future events. Combining this functional assessment of vascular fitness with other, more personalized, testing methods should serve to identify those at the greatest risk of cardiovascular disease earlier and subsequently reduce the affliction of such diseases worldwide.
Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of death in developed countries. Major recent studies such as SYNTAX and FREEDOM have confirmed that coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains the gold standard treatment in terms of survival and freedom from myocardial infarction and the need for repeat revascularization. The current review explores the use of new technologies and future directions in coronary artery surgery, through 1) stressing the importance of multiple arterial conduits and especially the use of bilateral mammary artery; 2) discussing the advantages and disadvantages of off-pump coronary artery bypass; 3) presenting additional techniques, e.g. minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting, hybrid, and robotic-assisted CABG; and, finally, 4) debating a novel external stenting technique for saphenous vein grafts
The current review addresses contemporary technological answers toadvances in cardiac surgery performed on octogenarian patients, namely off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), proximal anastomosis device, routine use of intraoperative epiaortic ultrasound, proximal anastomosis without clamping, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), and brain protection during cardiac surgery.
