New health developments in a heart implant, cancer burden and melanoma vaccine
An implant used in refractory angina, a survival gap in gynecologic cancers and an announcement about a personalised melanoma vaccine brought three health developments into view.
Science··Midday
Pain fell in 75 per cent of people fitted with a coronary sinus reducer
The Guardian reported that chest pain fell significantly within six months in 75 per cent of people fitted with a coronary sinus reducer. Of 491 people treated between 2014 and 2024, 474 received the device at 19 hospitals in England and Scotland. The device is inserted through the neck by keyhole surgery and narrows a vein behind the heart, redirecting blood towards muscle short of oxygen. Each device costs the NHS 11,400 pounds. Most people went home the same day or the next, and serious complications were rare.[1]
94 per cent of cervical cancer deaths are in low- and middle-income countries
Medical Xpress reported that low- and middle-income countries carry 94 per cent of the world's cervical cancer deaths. The survival gap in gynecologic cancers is linked mainly to late-stage diagnosis and limited access to care, with the heaviest mortality in East Africa. The report says that necessary interventions exist but stronger political commitment and sustainable financing are missing. Late diagnosis and limited access to care are listed among the main elements of the gynecologic cancer survival gap.[2]
Companies report fewer recurrences with a personalised mRNA vaccine
Moderna and Merck said recurrences were fewer among 1,137 people with high-risk melanoma receiving intismeran with pembrolizumab than among those receiving immunotherapy alone. Medical Xpress reported that the companies did not release the size of the result. Intismeran is made for each person from mutations in that person's tumour. The companies say they will present the information at an international medical meeting and share it with regulators. The same approach is also continuing for lung, bladder, kidney and pancreatic cancer.[3]
