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.

CPR instructions should focus on continuous chest compressions

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions given over the phone by emergency dispatchers to lay rescuers should focus primarily on continuous chest compressions instead of the traditional ABC's – "airway, breathing, circulation," according to Dr. Paul Pepe, chairman of emergency medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

8 May 2005

Decline in major heart disease offset by rise in diagnosed angina among British men

Rates of heart attack and coronary death among British middle aged men have fallen steadily since the late 1970s, but this has been largely offset by an increase in the rate of diagnosed angina, finds a study in this week's BMJ.

5 May 2005

Survey of ED doctors shows team-based stroke care, risk-reducing measures, needed to increase use of tPA

Forty percent of emergency physicians say they're unlikely to give stroke patients the only FDA-approved drug shown to improve their prognosis, even in an ideal setting, mostly because of the fear of causing brain bleeding.

5 May 2005

Cranberries good for the heart

Compounds that occur naturally in cranberries may be good for the heart, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found.

5 May 2005

Serious concerns about the use of morphine in heart patients

While patients hospitalized for a heart attack have long been treated with morphine to relieve chest pain, an analysis by researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute has shown that these patients have almost a 50 percent higher risk of dying.

5 May 2005

Abnormal heart scans predict higher risks for African-Americans and Hispanics

SPECT imaging scans show that abnormalities in blood flow to the muscle of the heart indicate higher cardiovascular disease risk in African-Americans and Hispanics than similar abnormalities in white patients, according to a new study (PDF) in the May 3, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

4 May 2005

Diabetes appears to rob women of usual advantage in heart disease risk

For men, a heart attack increases the risk of dying from coronary heart disease more than diabetes does, but for women, diabetes is sometimes the greater threat, according to a new study (PDF) in the May 3, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

4 May 2005

Coronary artery stents that release medication appear more effective than traditional stents for patients with heart attack

A type of coronary artery stent that releases a medication appears to result in better outcomes than traditional stents for heart attack patients, according to a study in the May 4 issue of JAMA.

3 May 2005

Researchers have successfully induced adult heart-muscle cells to divide and multiply

In the best documented effort to date, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have successfully induced adult heart-muscle cells to divide and multiply.

3 May 2005

Heart patient dies the day after a 3,800 kilometre bike ride

After bypass surgery had given him a second chance at life Broc Bebout, 57, a retired engineer, died of a heart attack the day after completing a 3,800-kilometre cross-country trip.

2 May 2005

FDA to change regulations regarding side-effect information in drug ads

The Food and Drug Administration is about to make it easier for you to understand both the benefits and risks of a prescription medication, it was revealed at the Second Annual Medical Liaison Seminar sponsored here by Scientific Advantage LLC.

2 May 2005

Discrimination leads to coronary artery calcification in African-American women

The more discrimination African-American women report, the more likely they are to have coronary artery calcification, a buildup of calcium in the vessels that is associated with atherosclerosis, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's 45th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

1 May 2005

Fiber supplements may lower cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetics

Fiber supplements lower "bad" low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and increase "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Sixth Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

1 May 2005

Computerized tools for diagnosing heart attack could be inaccurate in some people

A computerized tool to help emergency room physicians determine whether a patient is having a heart attack may not work as well among some racial and ethnic groups, according to research of almost 12,000 patients at nine medical centers.

1 May 2005

Antibiotics do not prevent heart attacks

Clinicians and researchers have found that more than three quarters of heart attack patients have been infected with chlamydia pneumoniae - a bacteria found in arteries of heart attack patients - and multiple studies have found this can double the risk of developing subsequent heart attacks.

27 Apr 2005

Patients' lives at risk from substandard drugs say heart specialists

Global action is needed to counter the dangers of substandard life-saving drugs that are putting patients' lives and health at risk, according to heart specialists writing in the new (19 April) issue of Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal.

27 Apr 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

New statin study shows arrested progression of atherosclerosis

The first study to use cutting edge magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effect of a statin - rosuvastatin (Crestor) - on the fatty plaques in arteries, was presented yesterday at the 75th European Atherosclerosis Society Congress. ORION revealed that rosuvastatin has a beneficial effect on the size and composition of fatty plaques in arteries (specifically the carotid artery in the neck). Fatty plaques that are vulnerable to sudden rupture can cause heart attacks and strokes without warning.

25 Apr 2005

Antibiotic treatment does not reduce risk of secondary cardiac events

Taking antibiotics weekly for one year does not reduce the risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event for patients with stable coronary artery disease, according to a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. It is published in the April 21, 2005, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

20 Apr 2005

Researchers identify marker of heart disease in low-birthweight babies

Some low birth weight infants have large particles rich in apolipoprotein C-1, a blood protein that could put them at risk for heart disease later in life, according to a national study led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers.

19 Apr 2005