Angioplasty News and Research

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In angioplasty procedures, a balloon is fed through a catheter and used to prop open an artery that has become narrowed or blocked. In cases where stenting is appropriate, a stent mounted on a balloon is inserted and inflation of the balloon expands the stent against the blocked artery wall to hold the vessel open. The balloon is then deflated and the catheter is withdrawn. Stent treatment of arteries holds them open and improves blood flow to the heart. In cases where post-dilatation is needed, a high-pressure balloon is inflated inside a stent to help better place the stent against the vessel wall.

Malfunctioning kidneys may raise risk of sudden death in women

Women whose kidneys are poor at filtering impurities from the blood are at heightened risk of sudden cardiac death, according to a report published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

8 Apr 2008

Angioplasty and stenting for renal artery lesions

The largest-ever randomized study to evaluate the effectiveness of catheter-based interventions in patients with narrowing of the renal artery has shown that angioplasty and stenting offer no benefit over medical therapy.

2 Apr 2008

Special catheter that clears debris from artery helps blood flow in percutaneous coronary intervention

Use of a special catheter that sucks out, or aspirates, bits of plaque and blood clot that break loose during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) significantly enhances blood flow deep in the heart muscle in patients who are experiencing a heart attack, according to a recently published study.

31 Mar 2008

Comparison of anticoagulants for angioplasty show similar outcomes

In a comparison of anticoagulants and stents for use with angioplasty following a heart attack, the anticoagulants abciximab and tirofiban had similar outcomes for some cardiac measures within 90 minutes after the procedure, while patients who received stents that released the drug sirolimus had a lower risk of major adverse cardiac events within 8 months than patients who received uncoated stents, according to a JAMA study being released early online March 30 to coincide with its presentation at the annual conference of the American College of Cardiology.

31 Mar 2008

Mutant proteins could lead to new treatment for heart disease

Heart damage due to blocked arteries remains the leading cause of disease and death in the Western world, but a Florida State University College of Medicine researcher is helping to open new pathways toward treating the problem.

25 Mar 2008

Uterine fibroid embolization effective in cases where focused ultrasound failed

Uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for uterine fibroids, provides significant relief of symptoms for women whose focused ultrasound (FUS) treatment failed, according to a study released during the Society of Interventional Radiology's 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, D.C. Primary care physicians and gynecologists can feel confident in informing patients that a failed FUS treatment does not require subsequent gynecological surgery.

19 Mar 2008

New interventional radiology treatment shows promise for complications from bone marrow, stem cell tranplants

The standard treatment to treat graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after bone marrow or cord blood transplant is intravenous (IV) steroids that alter the immune response; however, it is not always effective and failure results in very high mortality.

19 Mar 2008

Most women unaware of uterine fibroid embolization

A study presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting shows of 105 patients in the Atlanta metro area, only 18 percent of the women who saw a private practice gynecologist were told about uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), a minimally invasive treatment for uterine fibroids provided by interventional radiologists.

19 Mar 2008

New treatment for severe frostbite

Using imaging to visualize areas lacking blood flow and deliver drugs via catheter, interventional radiologists are reopening recently frozen, clotted arteries with clot-busting and anti-spasmodic drugs.

18 Mar 2008

Caring for a family member with a serious heart ailment may increase your risk of cardiac disease

Researchers examined heart risk factors in family members of cardiac patients and found that those who provided all or most of a patient's care had higher levels of risk factors for heart disease than non-caregivers and those who reported higher caregiver strain after six months were more likely to be depressed than those who provided less or no care.

13 Mar 2008

CT scan can harm kidneys, but cheap drug can help

As more and more Americans undergo CT scans and other medical imaging scans involving intense X-rays, a new study suggests that many of them should take a pre-scan drug that could protect their kidneys from damage.

20 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

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

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

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

Balloon catheter-based sinus surgery radiation exposure very low, safe

A new and increasingly popular type of minimally invasive sinus surgery exposes patients to only "very low" doses of radiation during the procedure, a level considered to be safe, according to a new study published in the February 2008 issue of the journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

5 Feb 2008

Researcher transplants stem cells to try to save patients' legs

A Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researcher has launched the first U.S. trial in which a purified form of subjects' own adult stem cells was transplanted into their leg muscles with severely blocked arteries to try to grow new small blood vessels and restore circulation in their legs.

23 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

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

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