Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction) News and Research

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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.

Obesity linked to stroke increase among middle-aged women

Middle-aged women's waists aren't the only thing that increased in the last decade. So did their chance of stroke.

21 Feb 2008

Calls to doctor's office may delay stroke treatment

Calling a primary care doctor instead of 9-1-1 at the first sign of a stroke can delay patients from reaching an emergency room during the most critical period - the first three hours after onset of stroke symptoms, researchers reported at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2008.

21 Feb 2008

One red wine good, two bad!, says study

One drink of either red wine or alcohol slightly benefits the heart and blood vessels, but the positive effects on specific biological markers disappear with two drinks, say researchers at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre of the Toronto General Hospital.

13 Feb 2008

Public smoking ban decreases acute coronary events in Italy

The number of acute coronary events such as heart attack in adults dropped significantly after a smoking ban in public places in Italy, researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

12 Feb 2008

Scientists reveal a new target to fight bad cholesterol

Scientists have uncovered a new region in the genome that is responsible for the body's ability to regulate bad cholesterol which is linked to heart attack and stroke.

8 Feb 2008

Novel drug shows promise in limiting heart attack damage

A novel drug designed to lessen muscle damage from a heart attack has passed initial safety tests at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

8 Feb 2008

HIV drugs, Abacavir and Didanosine increase the risk of heart attack

A study to assess the adverse effects of anti-retroviral drugs shows that two widely-used HIV drugs are associated with an increased risk of heart attack/the formation of blood clots in the heart.

8 Feb 2008

Review of psychosocial quit-smoking interventions for patients with coronary heart disease

Psychosocial interventions like counseling, telephone support and self-help materials can assist heart disease patients who are trying to give up cigarettes, but the most successful cessation treatments last a month or more, according to a new review of studies.

8 Feb 2008

Asian women at risk for congenital aneurismal fistulas

A seemingly random arterial abnormality that can cause heart attack and sudden death in adults with no previous symptoms may not be so random after all.

8 Feb 2008

Patients at risk of adverse events within 3 months after stopping certain ACS therapy

Patients who receive the anti-platelet medication clopidogrel following an acute coronary syndrome (such as heart attack) appear to be at greater risk of a heart attack or death in the first 90 days after stopping clopidogrel treatment, according to a study in the February 6 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

7 Feb 2008

Disrupted genetic regulation causes common disturbance in metabolism of fat

The disease familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCH) is a common cause of disturbed metabolism of fat and early heart attacks.

7 Feb 2008

For safety, NHLBI changes intensive blood sugar treatment strategy in trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has stopped one treatment within a large, ongoing North American clinical trial of diabetes and cardiovascular disease 18 months early due to safety concerns after review of available data, although the study will continue.

6 Feb 2008

Shake-up for Welsh 999 service

Wales has unveiled new plans to improve emergency and out-of-hours care, developed in partnership with UNISON.

6 Feb 2008

Disrupted genetic regulation causes common disturbance in metabolism of fat

The disease familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCH) is a common cause of disturbed metabolism of fat and early heart attacks.

5 Feb 2008

FDA approves Endeavor Zotarolimus-eluting coronary stent

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the Endeavor Zotarolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent for use in treating patients with narrowed coronary arteries, the blood vessels supplying the heart.

5 Feb 2008

Researchers uncover key interaction in cholesterol regulation

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined the specific way in which a destructive protein binds to and interferes with a molecule that removes low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the so-called "bad" cholesterol, from the blood.

4 Feb 2008

Protein, macrophage migration inhibitory factor predicts heart attack response and cardiac damage

A protein has been found that influences the response of the heart to a lack of oxygen and blood flow, such as occurs during a heart attack, a team of Yale School of Medicine researchers report in Nature.

4 Feb 2008

Common drug-releasing coronary stents appear to have similar clinical outcomes

A comparison of use of the first two commercially available drug-releasing coronary stents (for the medications sirolimus and paclitaxel) among patients in "everyday clinical practice" indicates no significant differences for outcomes such as heart attack or cardiac death, according to a study in the January 30 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

30 Jan 2008

Evidence strongly supports diuretics as initial metabolic syndrome therapy, especially in black patients

New research shows that in people with high blood pressure as part of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that increases the risk for heart disease, diuretics offer greater protection against cardiovascular disease, including heart failure, and are at least as effective for lowering blood pressure as newer, more expensive medications.

28 Jan 2008

Heart and stroke death rates steadily decline; risks still too high

In an appropriate prelude to American Heart Month, which is just ahead in February, new mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that, since 1999, coronary heart disease and stroke age-adjusted death rates are down by 25.8 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively.

23 Jan 2008