Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction) News and Research

RSS

A Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction) occurs when blood flow to a section of heart muscle becomes blocked. If the flow of blood isn’t restored quickly, the section of heart muscle becomes damaged from lack of oxygen and begins to die.

Heart attack is a leading killer of both men and women in the United States. But fortunately, today there are excellent treatments for heart attack that can save lives and prevent disabilities. Treatment is most effective when started within 1 hour of the beginning of symptoms. Heart attacks occur most often as a result of a condition called coronary artery disease (CAD). In CAD, a fatty material called plaque (plak) builds up over many years on the inside walls of the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to your heart). Eventually, an area of plaque can rupture, causing a blood clot to form on the surface of the plaque. If the clot becomes large enough, it can mostly or completely block the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the part of the heart muscle fed by the artery.

P2Y12 and blood clotting: an interview with Dr. Jacobson, NIH

We already understand the many steps involved in blood clotting in great mechanistic detail. The process of blood vessels closing off in response to injury is necessary for preserving life, but blood platelets that are over-active, or activated inappropriately because of unstable plaque, can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

3 Jun 2014

Controlling low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels: an interview with Jay Edelberg, M.D., Sanofi and Bill Sasiela, Ph.D., Regeneron

Lipids, primarily cholesterol and triglycerides, come from two sources: what is naturally manufactured in the liver and what comes from the intestines through the diet.

From Sanofi 7 May 2014

Marijuana may cause heart complications in young people

Marijuana smoking may increase the risk of serious and even fatal heart problems among young or middle-aged users, according to a new French study.

24 Apr 2014

Outbursts of anger may trigger heart attacks and strokes, shows study

Outbursts of anger may trigger heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems in the two hours immediately afterwards, according to the first study to systematically evaluate previous research into the link between the extreme emotion and all cardiovascular outcomes.

4 Mar 2014

New discovery has potential to transform heart attack treatments

An Australian discovery has the potential to transform the treatment of a heart attack, after a new approach boosted heart function and reduced heart scarring in preclinical studies.

16 Jan 2014

High aerobic fitness in late adolescence may reduce heart attack risk later in life

Researchers in Sweden have found an association between a person’s fitness as a teenager and their risk of heart attack in later life. In a study of nearly 750,000 men, they found that the more aerobically fit men were in late adolescence, the less likely they were to have a heart attack 30 or 40 years later.

9 Jan 2014

Specialists use pioneering treatment to reduce high blood pressure in kidney patient

SPECIALISTS at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have used a pioneering treatment to reduce high blood pressure in a kidney patient whose blood pressure could not be controlled with conventional medication.

13 Dec 2013

Heart disease signs in newborns: an interview with Dr Michael Skilton, University of Sydney

Thickening of the walls of the main arteries is the best indicator of poor cardiovascular health in healthy young children.

23 May 2013

Weight loss and heart damage: an interview with Dr Lili Barouch, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Obesity causes an increase in the stiffness of the heart, making it hard for the heart muscle to relax and fill with blood in between heartbeats. This abnormal stiffness can lead to congestive heart failure and other problems as it becomes more severe.

4 Apr 2013

Pregnancy-associated plasma protein A predicts cardiovascular events: Study

Higher levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events in people with cardiac chest pain that developed as a result of heart disease/coronary artery disease, according to a study published in CMAJ.

19 Mar 2013

Cardiovascular disease risk in women higher than you think

In conjunction with International Women's Day, the European Cardiology Society reminds women that they may be at a greater risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) than they think.

8 Mar 2013

Air pollution and heart attacks: an interview with Dr Cathryn Tonne, LSHTM

Air is polluted when it contains any extraneous entity in sufficient quantities to adversely affect the environment or the health of people exposed to it.

6 Mar 2013

Thyroid hormone may help reduce heart damage in humans with cardiac diseases

Thyroid hormone treatment administered to rats at the time of a heart attack (myocardial infarction) led to significant reduction in the loss of heart muscle cells and improvement in heart function, according to a study published by a team of researchers led by A. Martin Gerdes and Yue-Feng Chen from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.

1 Mar 2013

Air pollution associated with increased deaths after heart attacks

Air pollution contributes to an increased number of deaths among patients who have been admitted to hospital with heart attacks, according to a study published online in the European Heart Journal

20 Feb 2013

BMI may influence which blood pressure treatments work best

According to new research published Online First in The Lancet, body mass index (BMI) may influence which blood pressure medications work best at reducing the major complications of high blood pressure (strokes, heart attacks, and death).

7 Dec 2012

Heart attack centres: an interview with Dr Sayan Sen

Heart attack networks are designed to facilitate the rapid transfer of heart attack patients to centres with facilities that allow the manual unblocking of the coronary artery with angioplasty.

3 Dec 2012

Weight loss and quality of sleep: an interview with Kerry Stewart

In our particular study we used a survey which consisted of 50 different questions which get at different aspects of sleep health. It was a patient self-report.

26 Nov 2012

Injury prevention – research and practice: an interview with Dr Dale Hanson

Every twenty seconds someone somewhere in Australia presents to an Emergency Department seeking treatment for an injury. Every minute someone is admitted to hospital. Every hour someone dies.

13 Nov 2012

Stroke survivors who smoke risk their life

In a study detailed in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke, researchers recruited 1,589 stroke survivors between 1996 and 1999 and examined the occurrence of deaths, recurrent strokes and heart attacks over a 10-year period. They found smokers and former smokers who suffered stroke had greater risk of death, multiple strokes or heart attack when compared to patients who were never smokers.

25 Oct 2012

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make sufficient insulin or the insulin it makes doesn’t work sufficiently well to maintain a normal level of blood glucose and so the blood glucose rises.

12 Oct 2012