New Ultrasound Technique Is Alternative To Cerebral Angiography
...ultrasound -- can accurately measure the degree of blockage in thecarotid arteries that serve the brain. Assessing the extent of blockage is an important step in decidingwhether an operation is needed to remove the blockage in those who a...Four-Year Study Shows Long-Term Effectiveness Of Proscar In Treating Enlarged Prostates
...sk of developing acuteurinary retention, a painful blockage of the urinary tract requiringcatheterization. "This clinical trial demonstrates that finasteride clearlyalters the progression of BPH," said McConnell, holder of the E.E.Fogelson and Greer Garson Fogelson Distinguished Chair in Urology."The ...Clot-Busters As Effective As Surgery To Clear Blockages In Legs
..., it's caused whenpatients develop sudden arterial blockage that cuts off bloodflow. The condition is very painful, and many patients end uphaving the leg amputated. Such patients are usually elderly andhave another disease, such as heart disease, cancer, or diabetes;the condition occurs in more than 40,000 p...American Heart Association Comment: Tirofiban -- The Platelet Receptor Blocker For Heart Attack
...el feeding theheart, but they may precede complete blockage leading to heart attack. "People with those conditions often have to have surgical interventions such asangioplasty. Tirofiban may help some patients avoid surgery for a short time ortotally," says Fuster. "By postponing angioplasty, one can buy ti...Drip And Ship: Start Drug Early, Especially If Plan To Transfer Heart Patient To Larger Hospital
...n patients for a number of days untilthe threat of blockage diminishes. According to Greenbaum, the drug is easy toadminister, which could make it more attractive to smaller hospitals that maynot have much experience with this class of drug for heart patients. "For large hospitals with active cardiac...Routine Use Of Coronary Stents Found To Yield Better Outcomes, Be More Cost-Effective
...ated 75-80 percentof patients with coronary artery blockage are treated using stents. Most earlierstudies have shown that if an optimal result is achieved by balloons, stents areprobably not necessary. Dr. Weaver acknowledges that despite their benefits, stents can have their ownset of problems. Stent resteno...Stent Procedures May Be Unnecessary In Some Heart Cases
...to the analysis, a simple angioplasty to clear the blockage appears towork as well as implanting a stent. "In 1998, more than 500,000 people received stents, and our data suggestthat one in 12 may not have required them," said Duke cardiologist Dr. WarrenCantor. "Based on an estimated cost of $1,500 for each...AVANT Atherosclerosis Vaccine Raises HDL, Reduces Atherosclerosis In Vaccinated Animals
...sis is a progressive condition leading to arterial blockage andreduced blood flow by fatty deposits called plaque on blood vessel walls. Thiscondition significantly increases the risk of many forms of cardiovasculardisease including heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease.Atherosclerosis can also...Knife-Less Brain 'Surgery' Offers New Treatment Options
...ger of having a fatal stroke. The location of the blockage made surgery too risky. Less than seven years ago, the only treatment option would have been to prescribe blood thinners and hope the stroke wouldn't happen. But new technology meant doctors at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center could...Balloon Procedure In The Brain? Longest Follow-Up To Date Shows Good Results
...ient had a blood clot near the site of theoriginal blockage an hour after undergoing the procedure. That clot...ed with angioplasty had strokes in the area of the blockage and three hadstrokes in other areas of the brain. All patients received continued medicaltherapy af...Cholesterol Carriers Better Predictors Than Cholesterol For Second Heart Attack
...creased risk for rupture of plaque with subsequent blockage of the bloodvessel, which can result in a heart at...atients, an excessclotting tendency contributes to blockage of the blood vessel." In the study, researchers measured the three proteins and 11 other blood facto...Wake Forest researchers develop new technique to diagnose narrowed heart arteries
...apacity. This is the ideal time to assesswhether a blockage requires treatment. Patients take a drug to temporarily speedup their heart rate for the test. As the heart rate increases, blood flow shouldalso increase. When the results show that flow isn't increasing to meet theheart's demands, the patient's phy...New study finds African-Americans less likely to receive stroke-saving surgery
...cing the likelihood of astroke. People who have a blockage in the carotid artery are at high risk forstroke a... black patients on average had a smaller amount of blockage intheir carotid artery. However, even after that fact and other clinical factorswere taken into acc...Reacting well to heart disease can help avoid future attacks
...tients who received coronary angioplasty to open a blockage in one of theircoronary arteries. Patients completed a series of standard questionnairesdesigned to measure their ability to develop a positive outlook about theirmedical condition, restore their self-esteem, and find ways to gain control ofthe situ...Positive outlook, sense of self-control can predict new coronary events, says Carnegie Mellon study
...ed by restenosis." Restenosis is the recurrence of blockage in the arteries leading to the heartamong people w...cades to treat coronary artery diseaseby relieving blockage in major arteries leading to the heart. The admission diagnoses for the 298 patients were coronary a...Telemedicine can be used for accurate diagnosis of stroke symptoms
... recovering from ischemic strokes - thosecaused by blockage of a blood vessel - at the MGH or Spaulding RehabilitationHospital. Each patient was examined twice using the standard NationalInstitutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). In one instance, the patient wasexamined by a neurologist at the bedside. The...New 'real time' MRI stress test pictures heart in motion
...d physical exertion, and can helpphysicians find a blockage or other problem in the blood vessels of the heart. A thallium stress test uses a radioactive substance that is injected into thebloodstream to show how well blood is flowing to the heart muscle. It isusually done in conjunction with an exercise str...American Heart Association updates 'mini stroke' guidelines
...otid artery surgery. Many strokes are caused by a blockage in the carotid artery in the neck, which supplies ...ndarterectomy involves the surgical removal of the blockage from the artery. The updated TIA guidelines state that the surgery is beneficial in patients with b...New gene therapy shows promise in improving success rate of leg bypass surgeries
...ery alone (29 vs. 69 percent). A failure included blockage of the graft or a need for another procedure. Although statistically significant, Dzau stressed that the number of patients in the study was small. "The grafts not treated with the 'gene blockade' continued to fail throughout one year of follow-up, ......, doctors were limited to treating patients with a blockage in the middle cerebralartery, which is the major artery to the brain. The treatment was offered to those who had suffered alarge stroke within the previous six hours. Despite the physical limits of working with a catheter,this therapy offered doctors...