African-American heart attack patients fare worse long term
...d. "However, African-Americans also tended to have arteries that responded better to treatment, more likely to have less severe coronary artery disease, and were less likely to have multi-vessel disease." The researchers found that 6.7 percent of African-Americans had died within thirty days after treatment, ...Pioglitazone shown to reverse thickening of carotid artery wall
... and set the stage for unstable blood clots in the arteries to dislodge and potentially cause a heart attack or stroke. The reduction in thickness by pioglitazone, a member of a new class of type 2 diabetes drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs) suggests that this medication may have benefits beyond improvin...New magnetic percutaneous system navigates vessels
...uide wires and navigate turns in tortuous coronary arteries that would otherwise be impossible to negotiate," said study co-author Neal S. Kleiman, M.D., director of cardiac catheterization laboratories at the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center and associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in ...News tips for Monday, November 8, 2004
...S) who undergo angioplasty to reopen blocked heart arteries (percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI) fare worse than men. Earlier research in NSTACS patients suggested otherwise, but not all of the women had received PCI. This major review of male and female patients getting PCI between 1997 and 2002 co...Heart arrhythmias easily treated, yet few know risks
...re. Through catheters (small tubes) inserted into arteries in the groin area and neck, Wilber used tiny instruments to identify the abnormal electrical pathway in her heart and ablate (destroy) it with high frequency radio waves. After the procedure, Sandra said "If I had known how simple this was, I...Air pollution may cause and speed up artery disease
...hickness of the inner lining of participants' neck arteries (carotid artery intima-media thickness or CIMT). CIMT is measured by ultrasound and used to determine the level of subclinical atherosclerosis. Researchers then assigned a PM2.5 particle level to the study subjects' home ZIP codes. PM2.5 particles ...Coronary stents do not improve long-term survival
...the placement of stents in newly reopened coronary arteries has been shown to reduce the need for repeat angioplasty procedures, researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute have found that stents have no impact on mortality over the long term. In the largest such analysis of its kind, the Duke resea...News tips for Sunday, November 7, 2004
...for angioplasty procedures to reopen blocked heart arteries that were issued in 2001 by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, and the result is uniformly better outcomes. That's the finding of a large new survey of 407,152 percutaneous coronary interventions, or PCIs, at 313 ...Genetic testing can identify ischemic and nonischemic heart failure
...ndition. In ischemic heart disease, the patient's arteries have narrowed and the heart cannot pump normally because blood flow (and thus oxygen) is often restricted to the heart muscle. In nonischemic forms of the disease, the heart cannot pump normally because the heart muscle has often enlarged for other ...Further evidence reveals the association between periodontal disease and coronary artery disease
...istage process set in motion when cells lining the arteries are damaged as a result of high blood pressure, smoking, toxic substances, and other agents.) Another hypothesis is based on several studies that have shown that periodontal infections can be correlated with increased plasma levels of inflammatio...Researcher says screenings vital to reduce stroke rate
...ays using ultrasound to screen people for narrowed arteries in the neck is the best way to identify people at ...o a baseline ultrasound screening of their carotid arteries between the ages of 50 and 60, depending on their overall health. He says that both men and women wi...Life saving option replaces open heart surgery in newborns
...efly to gain access to the heart and the pulmonary arteries (vessels going from the heart to each lung). Through small openings, Dr. Bacha's team places restrictive bands around these vessels to narrow them, restricting blood flow to the lungs. Next, Dr. Hijazi and Dr. Bacha work together to deploy a stent, a...McMaster University researchers find simple handgrip exercise lowers blood pressure
.... The studies looked at whether the flexibility of arteries and the function of blood vessels--both of which i...study, researchers examined whether the ability of arteries to stretch contributes to lower resting blood pressure. Following eight weeks of IHG training, the ...Limiting angioplasty to experienced hospitals will not reduce access to care
..., the researchers said. Angioplasty opens coronary arteries clogged by fatty plaques, using a balloon at the tip of a catheter to press the plaque against the artery wall. In some cases, a stent helps keep the artery open. Earlier studies have found that patients receiving angioplasty treatment at higher-volu...Dartmouth study suggests caution against using certain drugs to unclog heart arteries
...od vessels - to treat the condition. Normal heart arteries have a muscle tissue layer inside their walls. In...cautions against using angiogenic drugs to unblock arteries in certain heart conditions. He indicated that stents coated with agents that specifically target sm...New imaging technique may help reduce risk of heart attacks, strokes
...irst means ever to pinpoint plaque deposits in the arteries of patients that appear poised to cause heart attack or stroke and without surgery, biopsy or other invasive procedure. Biochemist Alexei A. Bogdanov, Jr., Ph.D., and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School are using ...UW to lead most comprehensive study of air pollution and cardiovascular disease
...of atherosclerosis -- by ultrasound of the carotid arteries and CT scan of the coronary arteries -- as well as clinical cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. Exposure to air poll...'Safe' levels of lead, cadmium
...tery walls and reduce blood circulation, mainly in arteries to the legs and feet. In its early stages a common symptom is cramping or fatigue in the legs and buttocks during activity. Such cramping subsides when the person stands still. In a study of 2,125 adults, those with the highest blood concentrati...Flavonoid-rich dark chocolate boosts blood vessel function, study suggests
...urements correlate well with those of the coronary arteries that supply the heart. The team measured the artery's "flow-mediated dilation" using ultrasound to obtain the brachial artery's diameter immediately after deflating a blood pressure cuff that had been inflated for five minutes on study participants' ...Carbon monoxide from smoking helps keep arteries open following angioplasty
...opment of peripheral artery disease-actually helps arteries stay open following a procedure to repair clogged ...ioplasty and stent placement within the lower limb arteries may help prevent restenosis. "Smokers exhibit a higher blood concentration of carbon monoxide, a pot...