Emergency medical service (EMS) providers in the United States assess an estimated 350,000 cardiac arrests each year. Only 5 to 10 percent of people who have sudden cardiac arrest survive. Better quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) provided by prehospital EMS providers may be associated with better patient outcome. The Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) is the largest clinical research network to study prehospital treatments for cardiac arrest in the United States and Canada. [More]

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the Richmond Ambulance Authority have improved resuscitation and survival rates dramatically for cardiac arrest patients by training and equipping paramedics to begin lowering a patient's body temperature in the field during resuscitation and following up at the hospital with a host of high-tech strategies to improve the odds of survival. [More]

A woman who suffers sudden cardiac arrest is significantly less likely than a man to exhibit the decrease in the heart's pumping ability that is widely recognized as a precursor, says a new study in the Nov. 24 Journal of the American College of Cardiology. [More]

PGxHealth, a division of Clinical Data, Inc., today announced the launch of its genetic test for familial Dilated Cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart disease which is the leading cause of heart transplants and a possible cause of sudden cardiac death. [More]

Fewer than one-third of patients with heart failure are taking the three types of medications that are most effective in prolonging life and improving quality of life. The November issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter provides an overview of treatments recommended by national guidelines. [More]

By about age 50, more than half of adults have dealt with hemorrhoids. The November issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter covers home treatments that can relieve symptoms of this common and embarrassing problem. [More]

The chance of surviving a cardiac arrest outside a hospital was found to be twice as high when bystanders performed continuous chest compressions without mouth-to-mouth breathing than when bystanders performed standard CPR. These are the latest findings reported by the Resuscitation Research Group at the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center and the SHARE Program (Save Hearts in Arizona Research and Education) at the Arizona Department of Health Services. [More]

Regence BlueCross BlueShield has been recognized as a Platinum-Level Start! Fit-Friendly Company by the American Heart Association's Start! movement for helping employees eat better and move more. [More]

Cardiac Science Corporation [NASDAQ: CSCX], a global leader in automated external defibrillator (AED) and diagnostic cardiac monitoring devices, and Cambridge Heart, Inc., [OTCBB-CAMH], a developer of noninvasive diagnostic tests for cardiac disease, with a focus on identifying those at risk for sudden cardiac arrest, today announced a partnership pursuant to a Development, Supply and Distribution Agreement Cambridge Heart previously announced on June 23, 2009. [More]

GlobalData's "US Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices Market: Strategic Market Analysis and Insight to 2015" report is an essential source of data and analysis on the US cardiac rhythm management devices market with complete coverage by categories and segments. [More]

Years after heart bypass surgery, Jim Miller was symptom free. Several measures of his heart’s functioning did not show that he was in danger of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). But Miller’s doctor decided to make sure and the quick, non-invasive test he performed may have saved Miller’s life. [More]

Enrollment has ended early in a large, multicenter clinical trial comparing two distinct resuscitation strategies delivered by emergency medical service (EMS) providers to increase blood flow during cardiac arrest. The study's independent monitoring board and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the lead sponsor of the study, stopped enrollment based on preliminary data suggesting that neither strategy significantly improved survival. [More]

One category of medical mysteries that stumps expert doctors and policymakers alike falls under the heading: What works? News reports on two new studies - and one that was never completed - offer insight into that issue. [More]

Today's headlines center on the House health overhaul vote scheduled for Saturday -- what some are calling a potentially 'historic moment' for Democrats. [More]

A research team at Vanderbilt University has developed an innovative optical system to simultaneously image electrical activity and metabolic properties in the same region of a heart, to study the complex mechanisms that lead to sudden cardiac arrest. [More]