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.

New way to control hypertension may lead to more effective drugs

British scientists say they have found a new way to regulate hypertension (high blood pressure).

27 Aug 2007

Brits drinking themselves to obesity

According to the insurance company Standard Life, Brits are drinking themselves to obesity.

27 Aug 2007

Reported failure of vitamin E to prevent heart attacks may be due to underdosing

The findings, published early online in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, suggest that these earlier studies all had a fundamental flaw the doses used werent high enough to have a significant antioxidant effect.

24 Aug 2007

New diabetes mellitus clinical practice guidelines

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) has announced the release of its medical guidelines for the diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus.

24 Aug 2007

Call for improved treatments of stroke

A coalition of physicians representing a wide range of medical specialties has issued a call to action to improve the treatment of stroke.

22 Aug 2007

Warning - OTC diet supplement contains undeclared diet drug

Canadians are being warned that an over-the-counter (OTC) dietary supplement has been recalled because it contains a prescription drug used in the treatment of obesity.

21 Aug 2007

Specific antagonism lowers blood pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and the frequent use of drugs known as NSAIDs, for example to treat individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, can cause hypertension.

17 Aug 2007

PET MPI provides a more accurate "picture" of coronary obstruction

Physicians need to know how badly heart vessels are blocked before they can decide how to treat patients at risk of having a heart attack.

17 Aug 2007

Diabetes increases risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes

Individuals with diabetes and acute coronary syndromes (ACS) such as a heart attack or unstable angina have an increased risk of death at 30 days and one year after ACS, compared with ACS patients without diabetes, according to a study in the August 15 issue of JAMA .

16 Aug 2007

Diovan (valsartan) granted pediatric exclusivity by FDA

Diovan (valsartan) has been granted pediatric exclusivity by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on studies conducted in children with high blood pressure.

13 Aug 2007

Writing off Avandia may be premature

Rosiglitazone, a drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Avandia, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, came under fire after an article published online May 21 by the New England Journal of Medicine linked it to significantly increased risk of heart attack and cardiovascular death.

12 Aug 2007

New player in the control of HDL cholesterol

Researchers have identified a new player in the control of so-called "good" cholesterol that circulates in the bloodstream and reduces heart attack risk, according to a report in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press.

8 Aug 2007

Statin drugs may delay progressive artery damage in children

Starting statin therapy as young as age 8 safely and effectively delays the early artery damage caused by familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), according to a Dutch study reported in the Aug.7th print issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

7 Aug 2007

Many heart attack patients still not getting emergency reperfusion

Far more of today's heart attack patients receive emergency angioplasty treatment or clot-busting drugs to re-open their clogged heart arteries than even a decade ago, a new study finds.

6 Aug 2007

Emergency angioplasty use rises, but some patients still miss out

Compared with their counterparts a decade ago, today's heart attack patients are receiving emergency angioplasty or clot-busting drugs to re-open clogged arteries at a far greater rate, but 10 percent of patients who could benefit from this life-saving treatment still do not receive it, according to a study published in The American Journal of Medicine by Yale and University of Michigan researchers.

6 Aug 2007

Age is important in HRT use

Five years ago this summer the National Institutes of Health's stopped early a major portion of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a large and ambitious study to address the most common causes of death, disability and impaired quality of life in postmenopausal women.

3 Aug 2007

Integrated system, rapid transfer offers lifeline for heart attack victims

Heart attack patients received lifesaving treatment quickly when hospitals and communities used an integrated, rapid transfer system to get patients to a facility equipped to perform artery-opening procedures, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

3 Aug 2007