Sudden Cardiac Death News and Research

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The term sudden cardiac death refers to natural death from cardiac causes, heralded by abrupt loss of consciousness within one hour of the onset of acute symptoms.

Defibrillator implantations performed by physicians with low volume are more likely to have adverse outcomes

As the implantation of cardioverter-defibrillator devices to prevent sudden cardiac death becomes increasingly popular, patients are likely to get the best results when they are treated by physicians who perform the procedures frequently, according to a new study in the Oct. 18, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

11 Oct 2005

Cost-effectiveness of potentially life-saving implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) is an important public health issue

The use of implanted defibrillators that keep the heart beating in proper electrical rhythm to prevent cardiac arrest appears to be cost-effective for those patients who receive a significant mortality reduction, according to researchers from Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Stanford University and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Calif. They analyzed eight clinical trials of the devices to arrive at their conclusion.

5 Oct 2005

Benefits of starting CHF treatment with beta-blocker, bisoprolol

Initiating treatment with the selective beta-blocker, bisoprolol, is as effective and well tolerated as beginning treatment with an ACE inhibitor. However, starting treatment with bisoprolol may reduce the risk of death especially in the first year of treatment.

5 Sep 2005

Guidant receives FDA approval to re-enter heart failure market

Guidant Corporation has announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to re-launch its CONTAK RENEWAL 3 family of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) defibrillators in the United States.

2 Aug 2005

Innovation that helps locate and treat life-threatening heart arrhythmias

The Research Foundation of SUNY, which supports the advancement of education, research and discovery at the State University of New York, today announced it signed a licensing agreement with Biosense Webster Inc. for the rights to an Upstate Medical University innovation that helps locate and treat life-threatening heart arrhythmias.

26 Jul 2005

Stem cell therapy can be used effectively to treat heart attacks, or myocardial infarction, in pigs

In just two months, stem cells harvested from another pig's bone marrow and injected into the animal's damaged heart restored heart function and repaired damaged heart muscle by 50 percent to 75 percent.

25 Jul 2005

Fish oil does not lower risk of serious heart rhythm abnormalities for patients with implantable defibrillators

Even though previous research has shown that fatty acids from fish oil reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death, patients with implantable defibrillators who took fish oil supplements did not see a reduction in serious heart rhythm abnormalities, according to a study in the June 15 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

14 Jun 2005

Short term high pollution concentrations linked to dangerous heart arrhythmias

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues from Boston area medical institutions have linked short term high pollution concentrations with an increased incidence of irregular and very dangerous heart arrhythmias among a group of cardiac patients from the greater Boston area who had implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD).

1 Jun 2005

Increased risk of sudden cardiac death from some non-cardiac drugs

Non-cardiac drugs that interfere with the electrical activity controlling the heartbeat are associated with a three-fold risk of sudden cardiac death, according to Dutch research published (Wednesday 11 May) in Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal.

11 May 2005

Fickle enzyme helps protect, but also can promote heart failure

Enzymes that make the gas nitric oxide (NO) not only protect the heart from damage due to high blood pressure or a heart attack, but also promote heart failure through overgrowth and enlargement of the muscle tissue, say animal researchers at Johns Hopkins.

26 Apr 2005

Fish and soy oil help keep hearts healthy

Researchers say that older people who take a daily fish or soy oil supplement can reduce their risk of developing irregular heart rhythm or sudden cardiac death.

12 Apr 2005

New technology to help heart and lung patients awaiting transplants

Promising new technology may extend the life of a failing organ for patients suffering from heart or lung disease while they wait for a donor organ. The use of stem cells may eliminate the need for a transplant and even eradicate heart disease in patients.

6 Apr 2005

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques

A catheter-based imaging technology called optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques in patients with various cardiac symptoms. The report from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will appear in the journal Circulation.

29 Mar 2005

Vioxx could have caused 140000 excess cases of coronary heart disease in the USA since 1999

The arthritis drug Vioxx could have caused an estimated 88 000–140 000 excess cases of serious coronary heart disease in the USA since its launch in 1999, concludes a study published online by The Lancet.

24 Jan 2005

May soon be possible to identify people at risk and even to treat a heart problem with a drug that works on the brain

Sudden cardiac death from emotional stress may be triggered by uneven signals from the brain to the heart, according to a study by University College London (UCL) scientists published in the January issue of Brain.

23 Dec 2004

Biological clock affects the patterns of heart-rate control in healthy individuals

In a newly reported, first-ever finding, physicists from Boston University and physiologists from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that the body’s biological clock affects the patterns of heart-rate control in healthy individuals independent of sleep/wake cycle or other behavior influences.

21 Dec 2004

New insight into anticoagulation therapies

Anticoagulation therapies, or treatments that reduce the amount of clotting factors in the blood, are quite common and used for a variety of reasons.

6 Dec 2004

Women who have diets rich in oils containing alpha-linolenic appear to have a lower risk of dying from heart disease

Women who reported eating diets rich in oils containing alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) seemed to have a lower risk of dying from heart disease and sudden cardiac death than women whose diets are low in the plant-derived fatty acid, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2004.

9 Nov 2004

Doctors must choose and manage implanted cardiac defibrillators patients carefully

Implanted devices that can shock a failing heart back into regular rhythm do an excellent job of keeping patients alive, two new University of Michigan studies find.

8 Nov 2004

Mild pulses of electrical energy just as effective as more powerful and painful shocks to interrupt life-threatening rapid heartbeats

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a fast heartbeat originating in the heart’s ventricle chamber and can be life-threatening. VT is often treated with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), a device that delivers an electrical shock to restore an irregular heart rhythm.

22 Oct 2004