• In 2013, reduced kidney function was associated with 4% of deaths worldwide, or 2.2 million deaths.
• More than half of these deaths were cardiovascular deaths.
Atherosclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries, has long been seen as a strong indicator of coronary artery disease, as compared to the traditional risk factors of race, age, gender and metabolic profile.
In patients experiencing a worsening of heart failure, the primary objective of treatment should be the patient-centric goal of symptom relief, says the author of an editorial in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
At a glance:
People who suffer heart attacks and cardiac arrests in the vicinity of major marathons are more likely to die within a month.
The bleaker survival odds are linked to delays in transportation to nearby hospitals. The delays are believed to stem from widespread road closures within the radius of the race.
The study findings underscore the need for citywide strategies that ensure rapid transport for medical emergencies in the vicinity of major public events.
More than 1,800 individuals carrying loss-of-function mutations in both copies of their genes, so-called “human knockouts,” are described in the first major study to be published by an international collaboration. The program, which has so far sequenced the protein-coding regions of over 10,500 adults living in Pakistan, is illuminating the basic biology and possible therapeutics for several different disorders.
A study of more than 13,000 veterans with heart disease revealed that for those who also had depression, gaining access to and affording healthcare and medications is more difficult than those without depression.
An international clinical trial, called REFLECT, studies the safety and efficacy of the Keystone Heart TriGuard™ cerebral embolic protection device to minimize the risk of cerebral damage during TAVR and other cardiovascular procedures.
For 10 years, TVT (Transcatheter Valve Therapies) has provided healthcare professionals with the latest advances, tools, and techniques for the treatment of valvular heart disease using nonsurgical procedures. The first TVT was held in 2008 and has since become the preeminent conference for transcatheter valve therapies. TVT 2017 is a practical three-day course featuring the latest research and state-of-the-art techniques for transcatheter aortic and mitral valve therapies.
UCLA scientists have found that conscious sedation — a type of anesthesia in which patients remain awake but are sleepy and pain-free — is a safe and viable option to general anesthesia for people undergoing a minimally invasive heart procedure called transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
Cardiothoracic surgeons are fully invested in the patient-centered, team-based model of care, guiding patients through the entire transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) experience, from the decision to undergo TAVR to discharge from the hospital and return to normal activities.
Surgeons at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) performed five heart transplants in four days to place the institution among an elite group of transplant centers in the country — reaching 1,000 heart transplantations.
Robotic-assisted cardiac and thoracic surgery pairs a surgeon’s skills with advanced robotic technology. Surgeons use minimally invasive techniques, meaning large surgical incisions are not required. The technology translates the surgeon’s hand, wrist and finger movements into precise, real-time movements of surgical instruments inside the patient.
EL PASO, Texas — In a New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) editorial published last week, Debabrata Mukherjee, M.D., provides expert commentary on bioresorbable stents, an alternative to the traditional stents used in patients with cardiac conditions. In his editorial, Dr. Mukherjee encourages cardiologists to continue using conventional drug-eluting stents, instead of the newer bioresorbable option.
A new Scientific Statement issued by the Endocrine Society advises healthcare providers on ways to spot hormonal causes of high blood pressure that can be cured with surgery or treated effectively with medication.
For decades, American waistlines have been expanding and there is increasing cause for alarm. Researchers make the case that metabolic syndrome is the new “silent killer,” analogous to hypertension in the 1970s. As it turns out, the “love handle” can be fatal.
Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute investigators have learned how cardiac muscle cells react to a certain type of injury that can be caused by open-heart surgery. The findings point to a new potential way to help these hearts recover more completely. The cells, known as cardiomyocytes, can be damaged by the process of stopping and starting the heart during surgeries that use cardiopulmonary bypass machines to take over the heart's functions.
CRF’s next Mini-Med School for Women will cover the role stress plays in heart disease, and ways to manage stress for optimal health. The seminar is part of the CRF Women’s Heart Health Initiative which aims to reduce gender disparity in cardiovascular care through research and education. These Mini-Med School seminars feature leading experts who give New York area women the tools to take better care of themselves and their loved ones.
PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute enrolled the first patient in the United States in a trial assessing the safety and effectiveness of a new type of approach for blockages in the leg artery. DISRUPT PAD III is the largest ever multi-center randomized study to exclusively enroll patients with calcified peripheral artery disease (PAD).
A multi-disciplinary medical team of interventional and structural cardiologists at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network, has successfully completed a Canadian first – the implant of a TandemHeart circulatory support device designed to take over the function of a weak and damaged heart while allowing the heart’s pumping chamber or left ventricle time to recover – all without surgery.
Researchers led by Julian E. Stelzer, PhD, associate professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have found a new target for drug developers seeking straightforward ways to improve cardiac output in heart failure patients.
A Houston Methodist-led research team showed that the systemic administration of nanoparticles triggers an inflammatory response because of blood components accumulating on their surface.
Facts and other prevention and heart health tips and information are packed inside “The Heart-Healthy Handbook,” featuring 140-plus essays written by more than 60 Beaumont Health experts and published by Monterrey, California-based publisher, Healthy Learning.
In overweight and obese children and adolescents, vitamin D deficiency is associated with early markers of cardiovascular disease, a new study reports. The research results will be presented Sunday, April 2, at ENDO 2017, the annual scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando.
Two prominent Cedars-Sinai investigators — one leading the development of biological treatments for heart disease, the other spearheading the design and analysis of clinical trials for cancer research — were inducted April 3 into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, and Steven Piantadosi, MD, PhD, are among a select group of medical researchers to receive the honor.
A study published today in AACC’s Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine describes the creation of a first-of-its-kind patient sample bank that could improve consistency among blood tests used to diagnose heart attacks and advance care for cardiac patients.
Patients with more severe heart failure have higher levels of the thyroid hormones TSH and T4 and lower T3 levels, and those with higher T4 levels may be more likely to have atrial fibrillation, new research reports. The study results will be presented Sunday, April 2, at ENDO 2017, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando, Fla.
Middle-aged and elderly people with higher free thyroxine levels may be more likely to develop atherosclerotic diseases, new research from the Netherlands reports. The results of the study will be presented Sunday, April 2, at ENDO 2017, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando, Fla.
Five simple medical tests together provide a broader and more accurate assessment of heart-disease risk than currently used methods, cardiologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center found.
An online calculator predicts people's risk for heart disease and diabetes more accurately than traditional methods, a large study has found. Creators hope it will prompt patients to make lifestyle changes that would spare them the suffering and expense of avoidable illnesses.
A new study of rare “beneficial” genetic mutations, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, may provide guidance on the design of new therapies intended to reduce the risk of heart attacks.
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center is celebrating 60 years of open heart surgery with a ceremony at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus on Wednesday, March 29.
For many people diagnosed with heart failure — which almost invariably results in a hospital stay — the next stop is a skilled nursing facility. While their physician often will reassure them that it’s just for a short time until they can get back to their home, in reality, that stay is long (averaging 144 days). And often they find themselves back in the hospital and back to a nursing facility again.
Music therapy has been found to decrease pain in patients recovering from spine surgery, compared to a control group of patients who received standard postoperative care alone.
As little as 10 minutes a day of high-intensity physical activity could help some children reduce their risk of developing heart problems and metabolic diseases such as diabetes, according to an international study led by a researcher at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
New research has uncovered that capillaries have the capacity to both sense brain activity and generate an electrical vasodilatory signal to evoke blood flow and direct nutrients to neurons.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 735,000 Americans experience a heart attack each year. Opening a blocked coronary artery to restore blood flow to the heart prevents sudden cardiac death. However, doing so also triggers cardiac damage through oxidative stress and inflammation, which eventually can lead to heart failure. In a new study, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have identified a protein that can be targeted to decrease post-heart attack injury and prevent heart failure in a mouse model.
Statin drugs are widely used to manage high cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But in a new review of more than 50 studies, researchers cite reductions in liver inflammation and improvements in other related factors as reasons why statins make good candidates for treating chronic liver disease.
Physician researchers at Thomas Jefferson University suspect that some cases of coronary artery spasm go unrecognized and are incorrectly treated with stents. The good news – there could be a simple fix to eliminate these unnecessary stenting procedures. The team published a case series in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.
Researchers have developed a new way of visualizing the distribution of cholesterol in cells and tissues. Their research provides insights into the movement of cholesterol into and out of cells and could eventually identify mechanisms linking cholesterol to coronary artery disease.
Ablation procedures restore a regular heartbeat in patients who have a dangerous, abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. But it doesn’t always work. Now, a new study suggests that certain molecules are associated with the recurrence of erratic heartbeats in some patients after ablation therapy.
Researchers are revisiting their views on the relative dangers soft and hard atherosclerotic plaque deposits pose to heart health. Findings of a new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute may be a “game-changer” for determining who’s at risk of a heart attack, they say.
Combining two independent, scientifically-proven risk measurements allows physicians to better predict an atrial fibrillation patient’s risk of stroke or death. The tools also help determine the need for blood thinners in treatment, according to new research from researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.
A typical intervention for PE patients includes anticoagulants in an effort to prevent migration of the blood clot, but the higher-risk PE population – about 30 percent of all PE patients – are potential candidates for catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) and systemic thrombolysis (ST), both of which employ “clot-busting” medications known as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). However, in a new study presented today at the American College of Cardiology 66th Annual Scientific Session, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found that the utilization rates of these potentially life-saving medications are low, particularly in the sub-group of PE patients who are critically ill.
Findings from a large, community-based study show that antithrombotic therapy doesn’t decrease low-risk atrial fibrillation patients’ risk of suffering a stroke within five years. In fact, researchers found that low-risk patients fared better without any antithrombotic therapy.