Latest News

• share
• favorite_border

Low vitamin C concentration in the blood stream may be a risk factor for stroke, especially among hypertensive and overweight men, Finnish researchers report.

• share
• favorite_border

Abnormalities in tiny branches of retinal blood vessels might serve as an early warning system for dementias associated with Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and other diseases.

• share
• favorite_border

A genetic abnormality that affects how the body processes cholesterol may increase the risk of stroke in young adults fourfold.

• share
• favorite_border

In the first study of its kind, stroke survivors rehabilitated with a technique that electrically stimulates the stroke-impaired arm and requires it to work in unison with the healthy arm regained motor skills better than those who stimulated the impaired arm alone.

• share
• favorite_border

A simple imaging test may identify individuals who are at risk for having the gene for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes thickening of the heart and early sudden death.

• share
• favorite_border

Treatment with a cholesterol-lowering statin can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and possibly death in postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy.

• share
• favorite_border

The first of a new class of drugs reduces blood pressure better than the well-known ACE inhibitors and appears to reverse some of the vessel stiffness thought to be an inevitable part of aging.

• share
• favorite_border

A new implantable device that gives failing hearts a boost while patients await a heart transplant appears to be reliable and safe.

• share
• favorite_border

Increased research, education and funding will improve the treatment of people who experience cardiac arrest, according to a report by resuscitation experts.

• share
• favorite_border

Mental stress causes the inner layer of the blood vessels to constrict, which may increase the risk of sudden cardiac death, researchers report.

• share
• favorite_border

Prevention, improving health habits and focusing on treatment goals are the cornerstone for future efforts to control hypertension -- one of the nation's major health care burdens -- according to an editorial in today's Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Associaiton.

• share
• favorite_border

In-stent restenosis -- the re-narrowing of vessels that had been propped open using tiny mesh tubes called stents -- cannot be fixed by repeat stenting. The study shows that zapping arteries with radiation when they narrow after a stent is implanted does not improve the long-term outcome either.

• share
• favorite_border

People who received radiation in their arteries during angioplasty had a reduced risk of artery renarrowing for up to five years compared to those who got only angioplasty.

• share
• favorite_border

Americans with heart disease may have yet another reason to use aspirin. Researchers found that aspirin can protect the blood vessels from dysfunction caused by even mild inflammation.

• share
• favorite_border

In one of the longest follow-up studies of an implantable left ventricular assist device, heart failure patients reported a substantially improved quality of life.

• share
• favorite_border

Getting America's heavy drinkers to cut down may be one of the most important ways to reduce the burden of hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke.

• share
• favorite_border

Doctors may need to add treatment for osteoporosis to stroke rehabilitation therapy.

• share
• favorite_border

If you asked 1,000 people what health threat they fear the most, how many would say "stroke"? The answer: Only 10.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time, high dietary folate was found to decrease the incidence of stroke, according to a 20-year study.

• share
• favorite_border

The first study of a new drug designed to block blood clot formation showed no major adverse effects in people with stable coronary artery disease.

• share
• favorite_border

A speedier "hands-off" transition from chest compressions to shocking with an automated external defibrillator (AED) may mean more people survive cardiac arrest.

• share
• favorite_border

The more than 3 million Americans who have mild kidney disease may be at increased risk of complications following procedures to open or bypass blocked arteries.

• share
• favorite_border

After only four weeks, people who took an investigational drug were able to increase their "good" cholesterol levels by 34 percent.

• share
• favorite_border

Deadly plaques in the arteries can now be identified with a simple blood test, researchers report in one of the first studies of its kind.

• share
• favorite_border

In the first study of its kind, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, a device used to treat heart rhythm abnormalities, was found to be moderately cost-effective for preventing sudden cardiac death.

• share
• favorite_border

Implanting tiny rods containing a calcium-channel blocker in brain vessels prevented vasospasm, a complication that can occur after surgical repair of a brain hemorrhage.

• share
• favorite_border

Outdated hospital blood ordering policies that require five times more blood than is necessary for cerebrovascular surgery may be adding to the drain on the nation's blood supply. Researchers say it may be time for hospitals to change their policies to reflect surgical advances that require less blood.

• share
• favorite_border

The accuracy of diagnosing a blocked brain vessel in an emergency setting improved nearly 100 percent when physicians used a high-speed CT scanner.

• share
• favorite_border

A new drug-eluting stent -- a tiny spring device coated with medicine that keeps blood vessels from reblocking after angioplasty -- may have a problem holding up over time, say researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

Long-term exposure to ingested arsenic -- a contaminant in artesian well water in many parts of the world -- has been linked to heart attacks, strokes and diseased arteries in the body's extremities.

• share
• favorite_border

Mental stress can trigger a lack of blood flow to the heart and increase the risk of death in people with coronary artery disease.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time, researchers have shown that people who are aspirin resistant have a higher risk of dying from heart disease than people who are not aspirin resistant.

• share
• favorite_border

Recently the American Heart Association's publication Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association became a weekly online publication. The Association's other journals will soon become online publications.

• share
• favorite_border

Pulmonary hypertension can predict death for people with myocarditis and suggests the need for a heart transplant or other aggressive therapy sooner.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time researchers have shown that air pollution negatively affects the blood vessels of healthy humans.

• share
• favorite_border

Beta-blockers benefit women as much as men, according to one of the largest studies to examine gender differences in treating heart failure.

• share
• favorite_border

An antibiotic prolonged life and reduced risk of future heart attacks in people hospitalized for heart attack or unstable angina.

• share
• favorite_border

Cocaine can cause a lethal tearing in the heart's main artery, a condition that should be suspected in people treated for chest pain at urban hospitals, say researchers. A preliminary report of the study was presented at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions last November.

• share
• favorite_border

Heart disease patients who discontinued using cholesterol-lowering drugs while they were hospitalized for chest pain had triple the risk of death or heart attack as people who kept taking their medicine, say researchers in today's rapid access publication of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

• share
• favorite_border

A scientific statement urging fitness clubs to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and train staff to use them was released today by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

Heart attack patients treated with the blood-thinner enoxaparin -- a low molecular weight heparin -- plus a clot dissolver were significantly less likely to die or have repeat heart attacks within 30 days compared to patients who received unfractionated heparin (UFH), according to a Rapid Track article in today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

• share
• favorite_border

Below are several physician and medical healthcare spokespersons who can address health and science issues, as well as stroke educational programs. If you would like to arrange an interview with any of them, please feel free to contact a Communications specialist at the American Stroke Association: Health/Science News: (214) 706-1173 Educational Programs (214) 706-1636

• share
• favorite_border

The American Stroke Association's mission is to reduce disability and death from stroke through research, education, fundraising, and advocacy. As a division of American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association leverages credible science, a strong reputation, and a nationwide infrastructure of Affiliates to advance its mission.

• share
• favorite_border

Italian researchers have found strong genetic evidence linking homocysteine to the type of strokes caused by tears in the artery wall.

• share
• favorite_border

Clot-busting therapy is an effective treatment for ischemic stroke, but complications such as bleeding in the brain may occur. Researchers have found a marker that may identify individuals who are more likely to have bleeding complications and who may need to be treated more cautiously.

• share
• favorite_border

Transferring growth factor genes into the heart appears safe and shows promise for treating the debilitating chest pain known as angina.

• share
• favorite_border

For the first time researchers have shown that an antibiotic improved vascular function in people with angina who tested positive for Chlamydia pneumoniae in their blood.

• share
• favorite_border

Measuring levels of a molecule that precedes insulin formation appears to be an accurate way to predict heart disease risk in men and women.

• share
• favorite_border

Women have as much as a three times higher risk of dying during or shortly after coronary artery bypass surgery than men.

• share
• favorite_border

You are invited to cover the American Heart Association's Asia Pacific Scientific Forum, "The Genomics Revolution: Bench to Bedside to Community" and the 42nd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease and Epidemiology Prevention to be held April 23-26, 2002, at the Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.