Archive for the ‘Heart’ Category
Friday, March 12th, 2010
A recent study raises questions about the frequency of doctors' use of elective heart angiograms, which showed no disease in almost 40 percent of patients. BusinessWeek reports: "Doctors may be sending patients too quickly for elective angiograms to detect heart disease, exposing them to radiation and driving up U.S. health-care costs, a study suggests...
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) announced the schedule of the Company's major events and news announcements at the 59th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology/i2 Summit, March 13-16 in Atlanta...
Friday, March 12th, 2010
An experimental thyroid drug reduces cholesterol without the troublesome side effects experienced by some people on statins, according to a study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine...
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Only half of all patients at high risk of heart disease are given correct targets for lowering their cholesterol levels according to a study of 25,250 patients in Germany published online 11 March in the European Heart Journal [1]...
Friday, March 12th, 2010
When patients hear the words "heart failure" they often remember little of the discussion that follows. Stress, emotions, health literacy and even the patient's condition itself can create a barrier for good communication between patients and their doctors. Studies show patients forget as much as 80% of their discussion with their doctor by the time they reach the parking garage...
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Enhance National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported research to improve health, spur economic growth and innovation and science. American Heart Association patient advocates and researchers today delivered that message to members of Congress during the association's Research Saves Lives Fly-In Lobby Day...
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Current drugs used to treat heart failure and arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) have limited effectiveness and have side effects. New basic science findings from a University of Iowa study suggest a way that treatments could potentially be refined so that they work better and target only key heart-related mechanisms...
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
It's time to re-think how patients are selected for cardiac catheterization, say doctors at Duke University Medical Center, after reporting in a new study that the invasive procedure found no significant coronary artery disease in nearly 60 percent of chest pain patients with no prior heart disease...
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Ischemix announced the initiation of patient accrual in a multi-center Phase 2a clinical trial of CMX-2043 for the prevention of peri-operative ischemia-reperfusion injury in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures...
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
HealthHelp, a leading specialty benefit management provider, continues to target health care cost drivers by adding diagnostic cardiac catheterization to its well-established and effective suite of services...
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Removal of the ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) while performing a hysterectomy is common practice to prevent the subsequent development of ovarian cancer. This prophylactic procedure is performed in 55 percent of all US women having a hysterectomy, or approximately 300,000 times each year...
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
BG Medicine, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) to extend its current development and commercialization collaboration to include the development of a galectin-3 test for Abbott Point of Care's i-STAT® System. Galectin-3 is a novel biomarker that may play a role in detecting the development and progression of heart failure...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Evaluating children for underlying heart problems before prescribing stimulant medications can identify children at risk for sudden cardiac death, but electrocardiogram (ECG) screening is of borderline cost-effectiveness compared to current practice, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
A long-acting ACE inhibitor used to reduce blood pressure significantly decreased the risk for cardiovascular disease, including stroke, in normal weight, overweight and obese patients, according to research reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
The DASH diet, combined with exercise and calorie restriction, improved mental functioning by 30 percent in overweight adults with high blood pressure compared to those who didn't diet or exercise, researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
A new method of growing arteries could lead to a "biological bypass" - or a non-invasive way to treat coronary artery disease, Yale School of Medicine researchers report with their colleagues in the April issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation. Coronary arteries can become blocked with plaque, leading to a decrease in the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
The use of a physician-pharmacist collaborative care plan to manage lipid control in patients with high cholesterol does not have significant clinical impact, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The role of community pharmacists is expanding worldwide...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
The collection of symptoms that is the metabolic syndrome - insulin resistance, high cholesterol, fatty liver, and a greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke - are all related to obesity, but, according to a review in the March 9th issue of the Cell Press publication Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, not in the way you probably think they are...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Cardiovascular death is the most common cause of mortality among Type 2 diabetics and claims the lives of millions each year, with many diabetics experiencing their first "symptom" as a heart attack or sudden death. Understanding that diabetics are at high risk for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and that many with the disease are asymptomatic, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc...
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
A significant number of people with heart disease will benefit from less invasive transcatheter heart valve replacements in future, finds a review of updated practices in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)...
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Medical device pioneer Stentys announced that it has received CE Marking for its self-expanding and disconnectable stent to treat acute coronary syndrome (ACS)...