Feature Channels: Cardiovascular Health

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In 2015, published findings from the landmark Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) showed that intensive blood pressure management reduced cardiovascular disease and lowered the risk of death. In 2019, results of the SPRINT MIND trial showed that lowering blood pressure also reduced the risk of mild cognitive impairment in older adults. Now, researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that while intensive blood pressure control was beneficial to SPRINT participants’ health during the trial, the benefits for cardiovascular mortality went away after approximately two years when protocols for blood pressure management were no longer being followed.

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Keki R. Balsara, MD, MBA, has been appointed surgical director of Heart Failure and Transplantation at MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute. Dr. Balsara, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, will lead the heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support programs based at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

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University Hospitals in Cleveland has received national recognition for its care of patients with uncontrolled blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

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Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a common diabetes medication, metformin, as a possible treatment for atrial fibrillation. The study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, built on ongoing collaborative Cleveland Clinic research to support further investigation into metformin as a drug repurposing candidate. Researchers used advanced computation and genetic sequencing to determine that metformin’s targets overlap significantly with genes dysregulated in atrial fibrillation.

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Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have made a significant advance in the promising field of cellular reprogramming and organ regeneration, and the discovery could play a major role in future medicines to heal damaged hearts.

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Wake Forest University School of Medicine has received a five-year, $30 million grant to test a novel rehabilitation program designed for older patients hospitalized for acute heart failure.

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An exploratory study suggests that people who eat more foods with omega-3 fatty acids in midlife may have better thinking skills and even better brain structure than people who eat few foods with the fatty acids. The study is published in the October 5, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon, sardines, lake trout and albacore tuna. They are also found in foods fortified with the fatty acids or supplements.

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Particle radioactivity, a characteristic of air pollution that reflects the colorless, odorless gas radon found in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, enhances PM2.5 toxicity and increases risk of death from cardiovascular disease, especially from heart attack or stroke, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

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“We are excited to open our 18th hospital in the Hackensack Meridian Health network. This new LTACH will provide numerous benefits to our patients, their families and our community, which will lead to optimizing patient outcomes,” said Robert Garrett, chief executive officer, Hackensack Meridian Health.

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The University of Chicago Medicine's heart transplant program is making history once again. The program's transplant survival rates and transplant wait times are not only the best in the country, but they're the best in the history of heart transplantation, according to an analysis of Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) data.

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Pioneering heart care is a tradition at Cedars-Sinai. It’s a tradition that took root in 1924, when Cedars-Sinai became home to the first electrocardiogram machine in Los Angeles.

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Ser pionero en el cuidado del corazón es una tradición en Cedars-Sinai. Es una tradición que se arraigó en 1924, cuando Cedars-Sinai se convirtió en el hogar de la primera máquina de electrocardiograma en Los Ángeles.

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Women with severe preeclampsia (severe high blood pressure) during pregnancy may be treated with extended-release nifedipine, a blood pressure-lowering medicine, daily during the labor and delivery process, according to new research published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

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The American Heart Association® and the American Medical Association recognized 15 Loyola Medicine primary care practices for their commitment to achieving better blood pressure control by awarding them Gold Status though their national initiative, Target: BP™.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $15.75 million contract to researchers led by Case Western Reserve and Duke universities to accelerate development of therapeutic devices that improve chronic medical conditions.

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Cleveland: Findings from a Cleveland Clinic-led trial show that increasing the salt intake by mouth for patients who are hospitalized with heart failure undergoing aggressive diuretic therapy did not affect how much fluid they retain or their kidney function, indicating that salt intake for heart failure patients may not be as harmful as previously thought. Conversely, these new findings may challenge the common practice of salt restriction during hospital admission since that might not be as helpful.

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New data validate the benefits of the BVA-100 diagnostic blood volume measurement test in reducing hospital length of stay (LOS) for heart failure (HF) patients. Data were presented at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) 2022 – which brought together the world’s leading experts in heart failure.

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New data validate the benefits of the BVA-100 blood volume measurement test for Medicare heart failure patients. Data were presented at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) 2022 – which brought together the world’s leading experts in heart failure.

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Here is a summary of the September research discoveries and faculty news from Cedars-Sinai.

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Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s pediatric specialists will share their expertise and recent research findings at the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Meeting, taking place Oct. 7-11 in Anaheim, California.

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The possible health benefits of coffee have been percolating in the news for years: Coffee can lower your risk for diabetes, coffee may protect against disease and even some cancers, etc. More recently, headlines claim that coffee can extend your life or reduce cardiovascular disease risk. Good news, coffee lovers. The claim is mostly true.

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A nanoparticle therapy developed by investigators at University Hospitals (UH) and Case Western Reserve University targets overactive neutrophils, a specific kind of white blood cell, to prevent almost all types of blood clots while causing no increased risk for bleeding. The preclinical findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, may lead to safer ways to care for patients impacted by blood clots. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 900,000 people in the U.S. suffer from life-threatening blood clots each year.

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The cardiac surgery program at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple recently earned a distinguished three-star rating, which is the highest possible from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). The rating recognized high-quality patient care and outcomes in the most common heart operation: isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures, also called bypass surgery. When arteries supplying blood to the heart are narrowed or blocked, the CABG procedure can improve blood flow. It is one of the most common and effective procedures to manage blockage of blood to the heart muscle, according to the American Heart Association.

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UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute has a rich history of providing the highest level of care for patients. Continuing as leaders in this field and elevating cardiac surgery patient care to a new level, UH announces the addition of Rakesh Arora, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACS, a world leader in perioperative care and management of cardiac surgery patients.

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Um novo tipo de cardioversor desfibrilador implantável (CDI) extravascular usando um eletrodo (um fio fino) colocado atrás do esterno cumpre os objetivos de segurança e eficácia em participantes de estudo clínico global antes do lançamento no mercado. O dispositivo interrompeu com eficiência arritmias ventriculares agudas e crônicas potencialmente fatais. As descobertas foram apresentadas durante uma sessão de última hora no Congresso da Sociedade Europeia de Cardiologia e publicados no The New England Journal of Medicine simultaneamente.

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Un nuevo tipo de desfibrilador cardioversor implantable (ICD, por sus siglas en inglés) extravascular que emplea un cable (un alambre delgado) detrás del esternón cumplió con los objetivos de seguridad y efectividad en los participantes de un estudio clínico global previo a la comercialización. El dispositivo eliminó efectivamente arritmias ventriculares agudas y crónicas que podrían ser mortales. Los resultados se presentaron durante el Congreso de la Sociedad Europea de Cardiología y simultáneamente se publicó en The New England Journal of Medicine (Revista de Medicina de Nueva Inglaterra).

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The number of Americans with cardiovascular disease who are food insecure – having limited or uncertain access to adequate food – has more than doubled over the last 20 years, a national study finds. Adults with cardiovascular disease were more than two times likely to be food insecure than those without the cardiovascular disease.

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An AI-guided targeted screening strategy is effective in detecting new cases of atrial fibrillation that would not have come to attention in routine clinical care. This strategy could reduce the number of undiagnosed cases of atrial fibrillation, and prevent stroke and death in millions of patients across the globe.

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The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is pleased to announce that Puzzle Medical Devices Inc. has won the TCT 2022 Shark Tank Innovation Competition for its novel circulatory support device that is implanted percutaneously in the abdominal aorta. The competition took place during Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT), the world’s premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine, September 16-19 in Boston. The winner was also presented with the Jon DeHaan Foundation Award for Innovation in Cardiology.

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UCSF Health’s Heart and Vascular Center is welcoming Sammy Elmariah, MD, MPH, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI, as chief of its division of Interventional Cardiology and medical director of the division’s cardiac catheterization lab. Elmariah is a recognized expert in structural heart disease interventions and catheter-based valve therapies.

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Pascack Valley Medical Group today announced that cardiologist Mindy Markowitz, M.D. has joined the practice.

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In vitro fertilization (IVF) using frozen embryos may be associated with a 74% higher risk of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, according to new research published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

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Martha Gulati, MD, an expert in preventive cardiology and women’s heart disease, has joined the Smidt Heart Institute as director of Preventive Cardiology, associate director of the Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center and associate director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center in the Department of Cardiology.

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Claudia Huerta, 43, knows a thing or two about transformations. After being diagnosed with a serious, though common, heart condition called atrial fibrillation (AFib), the payroll manager and Maywood, California, resident transformed herself from being overweight and overstressed to being a lean, heart-healthy bodybuilding competition winner who is now medication free.

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Only 48% of people age 50 to 80 who take blood pressure medications or have a health condition that’s affected by hypertension regularly check their blood pressure at home or other places, a new study finds.

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As people with HIV age, their risk of heart attack increases far more if they also have untreated hepatitis C virus, even if their HIV is treated, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

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In patients with post-stroke cognitive impairment, the risk factors that contribute to stroke recurrence or death in certain populations is still unknown. A better understanding of who is at risk for a stroke recurrence or death would allow clinicians to better identify, monitor and treat stroke patients at a higher risk, which could potentially prevent stroke recurrence and save lives.