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.

Vitamin D deficiency linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease

The same vitamin D deficiency that can result in weak bones now has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Framingham Heart Study researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

8 Jan 2008

Anxiety raises heart attack risk

We all know that people with a Type A personality and an off-the-charts hostility level may be courting a heart attack.

8 Jan 2008

Congestive heart failure leads to greater disability, nursing home admissions

Medical breakthroughs in recent decades have allowed heart attack survivors and other heart-disease patients to live longer.

8 Jan 2008

Inquest into epidural blunder finds hospital at fault

An inquest in Britain into the death of a nurse within two hours of giving birth at the hospital where she worked as a theatre nurse, has heard that an epidural anaesthetic was mistakenly fed into her arm instead of her back.

7 Jan 2008

Low blood levels of vitamin D linked to heart attacks and strokes

According to new research people who have low levels of vitamin D in their blood are at an increased risk for heart attack, heart failure and stroke.

7 Jan 2008

Congestive heart failure leads to greater disability among older adults

Medical breakthroughs in recent decades have allowed heart attack survivors and other heart-disease patients to live longer. But as their hearts decline into congestive heart failure, an increasing number will experience disability and the need for nursing-home care.

7 Jan 2008

Chances of surviving a heart attack better in an airport or casino than in a U.S. hospital

According to the latest research from the United States you have a better chance of surviving a heart attack if you have it in an airport or a casino, rather than a hospital.

7 Jan 2008

Breakthrough for organ transplants and cardiovascular diseases

When a blood vessel clogs up, a localized deficiency of oxygen results, causing the surrounding tissue to die.

7 Jan 2008

Researchers overcome oxygen deficiency

No life without oxygen - but oxygen can also be harmful Oxygen is necessary to life.

7 Jan 2008

Daiichi Sankyo, Lilly submit NDA for investigational antiplatelet drug, Prasugrelin U.S.

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited and Eli Lilly and Company have announced that on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007, they submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for prasugrel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

7 Jan 2008

Give yourself a natural bypass before you need a surgeon to perform a more painful and hazardous one?

When cholesterol-clogged plaque narrows an artery that feeds the heart, the body responds by trying to bulk up tiny blood vessels in the heart.

4 Jan 2008

Transient neurological attacks associated with increased risk for stroke, dementia

Patients who experience symptoms described as transient neurological attacks, such as temporary amnesia or confusion, may have a higher risk for stroke and dementia, according to a study in the December 26 issue of JAMA.

28 Dec 2007

Cardiac stem cell therapy research

Since the year 2000, much has been learned about the potential for using transplanted cells in therapeutic efforts to treat varieties of cardiac disorders.

28 Dec 2007

Yale launches study of young women with heart attacks

The largest, most comprehensive study of young women with heart attacks - VIRGO (Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes in Young AMI patients) - was recently launched at Yale School of Medicine with a $9.7 million National Institutes of Health grant.

20 Dec 2007

Hardening of the arteries - mutant gene identified as culprit

A genetic mutation expands lesions in the aorta and promotes coronary atherosclerosis, more commonly known as hardening of the arteries, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine in Cell Metabolism.

20 Dec 2007

Study looks at prevalence of "false-positive" catheterization laboratory activation for patients with suspected STEMI

Physicians caring for patients suspected of having a heart attack may trigger "false-positive" activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory based on test results suggestive of a heart attack, according to a study in the December 19 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

20 Dec 2007

New drug that cuts risk of cardiovascular disease shows promise

The first clinical trial of a new kind of drug to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease has been found safe and effective at dropping levels of "bad" low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by as much as 40 percent.

18 Dec 2007

Genetic cause of Kawasaki disease

Researchers from Japan's RIKEN SNP Research Center, collaborating with a team at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), have discovered a new genetic variation that affects a child's risk of getting Kawasaki disease (KD), an illness characterized by acute inflammation of the arteries throughout the body.

17 Dec 2007

U.S. hospitals charged $873 billion in 2005

U.S. hospitals charged $873 billion in 2005 – a nearly 90 percent increase from the $462 billion charged in 1997 – according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research.

17 Dec 2007

Do people make better decisions when they understand average risk?

If there were a pill that would cut your risk of breast cancer in half, would you take it" What if you were told your risk of breast cancer was already below average"

14 Dec 2007