Christophe Scavée, Varnavas Varnavas, Sébastien MarchandisePublished in the journal : February 2024Category : Cardiology
The annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology has traditionally published new recommendations on cardiac pacing and arrhythmias since 2019, but it was not the case in 2023. New guidelines are considered as a beacon of light for many. However, the absence of new guidelines does not mean that this year has not seen any new developments in the field of electrophysiology and pacemakers. Many topics could have been addressed in this review, but we have decided to focus this article on three of the most important ongoing innovations.
The first is a success story: the possibility of implanting leadless pacemakers. The first capsules have been implanted 10 years ago, but the current trend is towards more sophisticated systems, targeting the atrioventricular synchronous pacing, in other words, providing a more physiological stimulation. Pacing as close as possible to normal cardiac physiology is essential to avoid the risks of ventricular dysfunction observed in some patients, especially if the pacing is delivered to the apex of the right ventricle. This is how the pacing of the left branch of the His bundle was developed. This is a particularly ingenious technique, whose feasibility still lacks solid data, but which is extremely promising and constitutes the second point of the review.
The final point refers to the development of an alternative energy source to radiofrequency or cryotherapy for treating atrial fibrillation, known as electroporation. This non-thermal technique applies bipolar electric shocks and disconnects rapidly the pulmonary veins. The results of the first randomized study have just been published, opening up new perspectives in terms of efficacy.
Agnès Pasquet, Laurence Bamps, Leila Belkhir, Mélanie Dechamps, Julien De Greef, Véronique Roelants, Jean Cyr YombiPublished in the journal : February 2024Category : Cardiology
The year 2023 was marked by the publication of new recommendations on infective endocarditis and new advances in our understanding of the relationship between dyslipidemias and cardiovascular diseases.
Madeleine Rousseaux1, Jean Cyr Yombi2, Leïla Belkhir2, Julien De Greef2, Andrea Penaloza-Baeza3, Arnaud Nevraumont1, Martin Vanderdonck1, Alice Brochier1, Kamila Lamraoui1, Pascale Saussoy1Published in the journal : February 2024Category : Biologie Hématologique
The Hematology department is delighted to announce the introduction of a new molecular technique in its hematology and cytology laboratory. This breakthrough marks our commitment to continuous improvement in the management of patients with suspected malaria, reinforcing our ability to provide accurate and rapid results for better clinical management.
Véronique Deneys1, Youssra Khaouch1, Christine Pirlet1, Johan Majewski², Sébastien Thibou³, Edith Rubin Winkler4, Corentin Streel1 et l’équipe EPIC des Cliniques universitaires Saint-LucPublished in the journal : February 2024Category : Banque de sang
The computerization of the blood bank and the erythrocyte immunology laboratory represented a major challenge since it required the parameterization of two software packages – an equation with two unknowns. This project would not have been possible without the outstanding collaboration of the IT and blood bank teams.
The global crisis we are facing (climate, health, energy, wars, etc.) is a unique opportunity to rethink the way we operate and to commit ourselves to establishing high-quality, sustainable, and equitable healthcare. To this end, a comprehensive understanding of the issues and challenges is required. This introductory article outlines the forecasts regarding the environment, resources, and health, before describing the environmental impact of healthcare and the possible strategies for redesigning healthcare and, consequently, education. These measures are based on the convergence of health, quality of life, environmental impact, cost, and resilience issues, thereby generating positive reinforcement loops (“co-benefits”).
Calls for action on transition and sustainable development are multiplying, including in the health sector. The Université Catholique de Louvain, with its “Transition Plan”, is committed to educating students about environmental issues. At the Faculty of Medicine, the transition is also underway with various initiatives. An introductory session on transition and environmental issues was organized with the educational support of the Louvain Leaning Lab and the expertise of many experts, gathered during a focus group. This session took place during the Master 1 general medicine course in 2022. Students were interested in this training and are calling for more comprehensive training and better adapted, in terms of both content and form, to the scale of the issues and their responsibilities as doctors. They are aware of the climate emergency and the role that universities must play in teaching.
As part of a participative approach, a student forum was organized in March 2023, in collaboration with the Green Team of the Student General Assembly of the University of Louvain in Woluwe, to reflect on the medical studies of the future. The meeting followed the world café methodology, enabling participants to gradually enrich their thinking on three questions: scientific content/knowledge, skills/attitudes, and the teaching methods/learning systems needed to meet the challenges of the future. The discussions opened the debate and generated ideas that will enrich our thinking on teaching programs. It would be interesting to repeat the experience with a larger group, to provide better information upstream and to involve the Green Team students earlier in the process, right from the workshop’s design. In addition, the forum could contribute to a wider process of continuing education for students, in particular training in a participative approach to governance and the mobilization of the imagination.
Our societies are dealing with complex sustainability problems. Health has been defined by the United Nations as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, revealing the close link between health issues and both ecological and environmental issues. Understanding and addressing these issues requires future healthcare professionals to develop specific knowledge and skills. These abilities need to be integrated into their training programs, though this cannot be taken for granted. This article explores the following question: How can we adapt the curriculum for future healthcare professionals in order to prepare them for sustainability challenges? To these questions, we herein attempt to provide four possible responses: 1) a multi-level commitment to share responsibility; 2) identification of the sustainability skills that health care students need to acquire; 3) integration of the latter into training courses and programs; 4) adaptation of teaching methods to enable students to engage in learning, so as to transform themselves and have authentic experiences. We hope that this thinking framework, in addition to the practical recommendations it contains, will help those with a role to play in healthcare sciences curricula
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming the 2016-2025 time period as the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition. The pursued objective was and still is to guarantee universal access to healthier and more sustainable food in order to eradicate all forms of malnutrition across the world. Malnutrition encompasses the problems of undernutrition, referring to deficiency of energy, proteins, essential nutrients, which is responsible for a significant number of pathologies mainly affecting children and women. Nevertheless, malnutrition also comprises imbalances characterized by excessively caloric intake and over-consumption of lipids, salts, and sugars leading to obesity, with its chronic associated pathologies. In this article, based on the case of obesity and associated cardiovascular diseases, we sought to further illustrate the concept that adhering to a healthy lifestyle combined with a more sustainable diet is feasible. Its ultimate objective is to achieve a joint improvement in human health, animal health, and environmental health. This is being referred to as the “one health” concept.
Up to 70% of consumed drugs in hospitals are retrieved in the form of drug residues in wastewater. Conventional wastewater treatment plants are unable to completely purify these pharmaceutical micropollutants. To limit the environmental impact of drug consumption and persistence of xenobiotics in surface waters, solutions both upstream and downstream of drug treatment exist. For instance, the discharge of problematic micropollutants into effluents must be limited through eco-designed care, which duly examines each stage of hospitalized patient care in order to limit pollutant discharges. This involves appropriate consumption, including adapting to patient weight, de-prescribing, selecting less impactful molecules, as well as avoiding cleaning-related discharges. At the downstream level, it is similarly possible to limit the impact of wastewater treatment. Various solutions exist, with encouraging results already obtained to date, as a 70% - 100% purification of micropollutants in hospital wastewater is ensured by these means.