Coronary calcium in heart arteries provides important clues about risk, even among younger and elderly patients and those without traditional risk factors, according to new studies.
If your doctor says you have a negative stress test, or that your cholesterol or blood pressure are normal, how assured can you be that you’re not likely to have a heart attack in the next seven to 10 years? Assessing traditional risk factors, such as age, high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and family history can estimate a person’s risk, but the picture is not always clear-cut. Some newer tests can be offered to provide reassurance or guidance about the need for medications or further testing.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered the therapeutic benefit of fetal stem cells in helping the maternal heart recover after heart attack or other injury. The research marks a significant advancement in cardiac regenerative medicine.
Mayo Clinic researchers have amassed additional evidence that secondhand smoke kills and smoke-free workplace laws save lives. The study will be presented to the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions on Monday in Orlando.
The risk of heart failure appears to be higher among low-income seniors — even those with a college education — according to research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham presented during the 2011 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
A research network led by a Mayo Clinic physician found that stem cells obtained from bone marrow delivered two to three weeks after a person has a heart attack did not improve heart function. This is the first study to systematically examine the timing and method of stem cell delivery and provides vital information for the field of cell therapy.
The cost of treating men for heart disease topped $47 billion in 2008, leading a list of the 10 most expensive conditions for men age 18 and older.
Identification of three fatty acids involved in the extreme growth of Burmese pythons’ hearts following large meals could prove beneficial in treating diseased human hearts, according to research co-authored by a University of Alabama scientist and publishing in the Oct. 28 issue of Science.
A simple blood test could someday quantify a smoker’s lung toxicity and danger of heart disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center today announce findings published in the October 20 issue of Nature that show for the first time the inhibition of both microRNA-33a and microRNA-33b (miR-33a/b) with chemically modified anti-miR oligonucleotides markedly suppress triglyceride levels and cause a sustained increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) “good” cholesterol.
A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that cardiovascular disease may be an unfortunate consequence of mammalian evolution.
After a heart attack, women’s hearts are more likely to maintain their systolic function—their ability to contract and pump blood from the chambers into the arteries. This suggests that heart disease manifests differently in women, affecting the small blood vessels, instead of the major blood vessels as it does in men.
A Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study could lead to improved gene therapies for conditions such as heart disease and cancer as well as more effective vaccines for tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
A long-held mantra suggests that you can't change your family, the genes they pass on, or the effect of these genes. Now, an international team of scientists, led by researchers at McMaster and McGill universities, is attacking that belief. The researchers discovered the gene that is the strongest marker for heart disease can actually be modified by generous amounts of fruit and raw vegetables. The results of their study are published in the current issue of the journal PLoS Medicine.
A new study from the University of Adelaide shows the parents of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are more likely to have some form of cardiovascular disease.
Each year in the United States, more than 200,000 people have a cardiac defibrillator implanted in their chest to deliver a high-voltage shock to prevent sudden cardiac death from a life-threatening arrhythmia. While it’s a necessary and effective preventive therapy, those who’ve experienced a defibrillator shock say it’s painful, and some studies suggest that the shock can damage heart muscle.
Researchers at the Cardiac & Vascular Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified a hidden culprit in the battle against women’s heart disease. Plaque disruption, a rupture or ulceration of cholesterol plaque in a coronary artery, has been discovered as the mechanism behind myocardial infarction (heart attack) in some women without significant coronary artery disease (CAD) – that is, open rather than closed arteries on an angiogram. The study is published in the September 27th issue of the journal Circulation.
New York City, NY (September 22, 2011) – The first weeks of school are stressful enough on children, but how much more so for children with underlying heart problems. Parents of children who have been diagnosed with cardiac problems such as a heart murmur or irregular heart beat, or whose family has a history of heart problems, should be specially vigilant. The following information from the Pediatric Heart Center of The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore should be considered by parents of children at risk for heart disease:
Among patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing a procedure such as angioplasty, those who received platelet function tests before receiving antithrombotic therapy to determine appropriate clopidogrel dosing and who had high residual platelet reactivity (platelets resistant to antithrombotic therapy) were at an increased risk of an ischemic event at short- and long-term follow-up of up to 2 years, according to a study in the September 21 issue of JAMA.
While the incidence of the life-threatening condition of aortic dissection is significantly higher than in the general population, it remains low among patients with the congenital heart defect, bicuspid aortic valve; however, the incidence of aortic aneurysms is significantly high, according to a study in the September 14 issue of JAMA.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time used several imaging techniques to prove the efficacy of a promising new treatment for atherosclerosis—the build-up of plaque in artery walls that can lead to a heart attack.
University of Maryland researchers patented and licensed a “Bio-glue” that allows simulation of mechanical and chemical heartbeats from a single cell.
Over the last year, UC San Diego Health System managed to significantly decrease average door-to-balloon time, beating national guidelines by over a third, and improving care of patients with the most severe type of heart attack, known as STEMI (ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction).
By employing optogenetics, a new field that uses genetically altered cells to respond to light, researchers at Stony Brook University have demonstrated a way to control cell excitation and contraction in cardiac muscle cells.
The presence of calcium in coronary arteries is a much better predictor of heart attack and stroke than C-reactive protein among people with normal levels of LDL cholesterol, according to a study of more than 2,000 people led by a Johns Hopkins heart specialist.
Six simple clinical risk factors could help identify women most at risk.
The cost of treating women for heart disease in 2008 was $43.6 billion, leading a list of the top 10 most expensive conditions for women.
A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that adults who consumed high fructose corn syrup for two weeks as 25 percent of their daily calorie requirement had increased blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, which have been shown to be indicators of increased risk for heart disease.
While there are many traits that are common among heart attack patients – both those who survive the event and those who die suddenly – researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have identified several traits that can be used to differentiate between risk of dying suddenly versus living through a heart attack.
A new evidence review finds that a modified fat diet — and not a low fat diet — might be the real key to reducing one’s risk of heart disease.
Despite changes in standard treatment practice guidelines issued by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology several years ago, there has been no meaningful change in the nation’s practice of opening completely blocked coronary arteries with balloons and stents in the days after a heart attack, according to a new study published in the July 11, 2011, issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Smoking cigarettes is a dangerous habit that many are struggling to break, but for the smokers who choose to use one of the most popular smoking cessation drugs on the market, new warnings about the risk of serious cardiovascular events are on their way.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found in a Phase II trial that a gene therapy developed at Mount Sinai stabilized or improved cardiac function in people with severe heart failure. Patients receiving a high dose of the therapy, called SERCA2a, experienced substantial clinical benefit and significantly reduced cardiovascular hospitalizations, addressing a critical unmet need in this population. The data are published online in the June 27 issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
Only about 10 percent of patients with a certain type of heart attack who need to be transferred to another hospital for a PCI (procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) are transferred within the recommended time of 30 minutes, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of women in the United States. Although scientists have discovered demonstrable sex differences, treatment options remain the same. In response to this important issue, the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease released the long awaited 2011 10Q Report: Advancing Women’s Heart Health through Improved Research, Diagnosis and Treatment on June 21 to a captivated audience on Capitol Hill.
A systematic review found that death, stroke and heart attack did not decline significantly in the first few months after starting treatment with statins.
Leading researchers, scientists, medical and surgical professionals from all over the world gather here at the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) this week (June 12 to June 17) to present new findings on obesity, morbid obesity, bariatric and metabolic surgery.
A recent National Institutes of Health study released in late May, called AIM-HIGH, showed that Niaspan failed to prevent heart attacks and slightly raised the risk of a stroke when combined with the cholesterol drug Zocor (simvastatin)..
Cartoid endarterectomy is best choice for women in majority of cases.
New research finds that gestational diabetes, or pregnancy-related diabetes, may not raise the risk of heart disease independent of other cardiovascular risk factors except in certain high-risk populations, such as Hispanics. The results will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.
Less invasive catheter-based aortic valve replacement and open valve-replacement surgery have a similar one-year survival for patients at high risk for surgery.
Loyola University Health System physician discusses women and coronary artery disease.
Coronary computed tomographic (CT) angiography, which can detect plaque buildup in heart vessels, is sometimes used as a screening tool to assess the risk for a heart attack. However, the usefulness of the test on low-risk patients who do not have coronary symptoms, such as chest pain, has been unclear. In the first large population study to assess the impact of the test on physicians and patients, Johns Hopkins cardiologists found that having CT angiography leads to more prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering medications and aspirin, as well as more stress tests, nuclear medicine scans and invasive catheterizations. However, the incidence of heart attacks or cardiac death among people in the study was the same, whether or not patients had a CT angiography test.
Researchers at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre discovered a protein switch which can trigger a cascade of events leading to heart failure, pointing to a new direction for drug development.
The number of young adults in the U.S. with high blood pressure may be much higher than previously reported. A new study analyzed data on more than 14,000 people between 24 and 32 years old. Nineteen percent had elevated blood pressure. The findings illustrate how the processes that trigger serious chronic illnesses in older adults may begin early in life.
A new study by University of Virginia Health System researchers adds to mounting evidence that ezetimibe may not halt significant artery wall thickening, or atherosclerosis, in some patients. Despite the medication’s proven effectiveness in lowering LDL cholesterol, UVA researchers found a notable progression of atherosclerosis in patients who added ezetimibe to their pre-existing cholesterol-lowering statin medication therapy.
In two separate studies, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found that how fast a middle-age person can run a mile can help predict the risk of dying of heart attack or stroke decades later for men and could be an early indicator of cardiovascular disease for women.
University of Maryland-led team’s study of calcium release events in heart cells that are smaller than well-known sparks may lead to new cardiovascular therapies.
Women with congestive heart failure who repress their emotions, especially anger, are more likely than emotionally expressive women to experience symptoms of depression associated with knowledge about their disease, according to new research.
Contrary to what we’ve been told, eliminating or severely limiting fats from the diet may not be beneficial to cardiac function in patients suffering from heart failure, a study at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reports.
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