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 The balloon is then deflated and the catheter is withdrawn.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.
It's a no-brainer that the brain needs a constant supply of blood to keep it going. But some medical conditions can block or reduce that life-giving flow. Whether it's a stroke, a clogged artery or a brain tumor, any situation where blood can't get to the whole brain can lead to death or permanent disability.
Branch points in the arteries are a common area of atherosclerotic disease, resulting in the occlusion of both branches. These branch points can generally be defined as a main branch and a side branch, and, in treating the disease, the question of what is the optimal course of action, opening the main branch, the side branch, or both, remains uncertain.
A Florida businessman filed suit today against Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., and the Estate of Dr. Robert C. Atkins, claiming that the late diet author’s controversial high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimen caused severe heart disease, necessitating angioplasty and a stent. He is seeking a court injunction banning Atkins Nutritionals from marketing its products without a warning of potential health risks and asks for compensatory damages.
An Austrian study has found that smoking cigarettes, a habit that contributes to the development of peripheral artery disease-actually helps arteries stay open following a procedure to repair clogged blood vessels in the legs. The study found that habitual to heavy smokers who continued to smoke after angioplasty had a lower rate of restenosis, or re-narrowing of the arteries, than nonsmokers.
Heart patients who had angioplasty or bypass surgery and felt burdened by medical costs were more than twice as likely to die within a year of their procedure as patients who didn’t have trouble paying for healthcare, according to a study presented today at the American Heart Association’s 5th annual Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.
"Practice makes perfect" seems logical, but how much practice remains uncertain, and current health care quality guidelines may be set too high. It may be time to reexamine the standard recommending hospitals perform at least 400 angioplasty and stent procedures per year, according to a new study in the May 19, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
New findings published in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research indicate that nonalcoholic beer may also be able to impart cardiovascular benefits without the negative effects of alcohol, by inhibiting blood coagulation and platelet activation.
A new stent appears safe and effective for preventing arteries from reclosing in coronary heart disease patients, based on one-year results of the first human trial using this stent reported in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Bypass surgery results in better five-year survival than balloon angioplasty and stent procedures for patients with serious coronary artery disease and additional health conditions such as diabetes
Fish oil can help reduce deaths from heart disease, according to new evidence reports announced today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Cordis Endovascular today reported the Circulatory System Devices Panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended approval of the company's new Cordis Carotid System. Cordis Endovascular is a division of Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company.
Three patients of the UC Heart & Vascular Center have grown new coronary artery branches to increase blood flow to the heart after receiving a new growth factor protein (FGF1) in November 2003. All three patients showed improved blood flow to the heart twelve weeks following the injection.
Research presented in a six-hour symposium on carotid artery disease at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology showed carotid artery stenting to be safe and effective for highrisk patients.
Currently, the standard of care for stroke prevention in patients with moderate to severely blocked carotid arteries is carotid endarterectomy surgery. The ARCHeR trials treated patients who were high-risk surgical candidates with carotid artery stenting with and without embolic protection, a device to capture debris that may break off during the procedure.
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has developed a potential new treatment for heart attacks. The therapy inhibits fluid leakage from cardiac blood vessels following a heart attack and thereby significantly prevents long-term heart damage and improves survival.
A computer-aided approach -- based on software-that-learns, promises to provide a new tool that helps doctors tailor the dosage of abciximab, a medicine frequently used before angioplasty to lessen the chance of heart attack.
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