Newly approved heart surgery procedure debuts at Penn Medicine
Cardiac ablation is a technique that prevents abnormal heart rhythms by scarring or destroying the tissue that allows those signals to pass.
It is a new technique, only recently approved by the FDA as a treatment for the three million patients in the U.S. who experience persistent atrial fibrilation (AF).
In October of 2017, the FDA approved the imaging and mapping system, AcQMap® High Resolution Imaging and Mapping System and the 3D Imaging and Mapping Catheter, to use on AF patients. Pasquale Santangeli, an assistant professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, performed the procedure for the first time since FDA approval.
With the ability to refine mapping the heart regions to make more angles visible and with better resolution, the success rate for the procedure on patients with AF has the potential to increase from more than half to 75 percent. By measuring the effects of ablation in real time during the procedure with high-resolution mapping, doctors are able to pinpoint the precise areas of the heart that cause arrythmia.
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
New research involving Penn Engineering shows detailed variation in lipid nanoparticle size, shape, and internal structure, and finds that such factors correlate with how well they deliver therapeutic cargo to a particular destination.
A generous gift from alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman brings the work of internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa to the University of Pennsylvania. The latest addition to the Penn Art Collection expands Philadelphia's public art.
A massive chunk of ice, a new laser, and new information on sea-level rise
For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim’s massive calving events don’t behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.
