Health Highlights: Aug. 17, 2009
Aug. 18 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
German Doctors Implant World's Smallest Artificial Heart Pump
The world's smallest artificial heart pump was successfully implanted in a 50-year-old women in late July, a German hospital announced Monday.
The three-ounce plastic and titanium pump is touted as being more effective and unobtrusive than earlier devices, Agence France Presse reported. The pump is the fifth generation of the so-called DeBakey Heart pump.
"It can fully replace the function of the heart's left ventricle and works particularly quietly and effectively," said Matthias Karck, director of the cardiac surgery division at the University Hospital of Heidelberg.
Hospital official said the woman who received the heart pump is now leading a normal life with it at home, AFP reported.
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FDA Approves New Drug For Gaucher Disease
A new drug can be used to treat patients with a rare genetic disorder called Gaucher disease before the drug gets full marketing approval, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The Associated Press reported that the agency approved a treatment protocol that allows Protalix BioTherapeutics Inc. to give prGCD to patients in a clinical trial during a shortage of an older drug called Cerezyme, made by Genzyme Corp. That company had to discard most of its ingredients for Cerezyme after an FDA inspection of the manufacturing facility.
Under the treatment protocol, the patients in the clinical trial will receive prGCD for free until the drug receives full FDA approval, the AP reported.
Gaucher disease can cause liver and neurological problems.
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Researchers Sequence Exomes of 12 People
Scientists who sequenced the exomes of 12 people say this new method could help efforts to identify disease-causing genes.
