Chest Pain News and Research

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Broken heart syndrome common

In the largest review of "broken heart syndrome" patients ever conducted, Mayo Clinic researchers studied 100 patients and found symptoms recurred in 1 out of 10 patients over a four-year period, and that patients experiencing physical stress had a worse survival rate than those under emotional stress.

14 Nov 2006

Racial disparities exist in pulmonary hypertension mortality and morbidity

African-American women have the highest mortality rate for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), according to new research.

24 Oct 2006

High levels of two proteins in the bloodstream indicate need for action to avoid heart attack

Researchers working to decode chemical SOS signals sent out by disease-damaged hearts believe they now know better when to aggressively clear clogged arteries and when medical procedures may be unnecessary and even harmful.

12 Sep 2006

Test on viability of heart muscle identifies patients who will benefit from angioplasty after clot-lysing therapy for an acute heart attack

Emergency angioplasty (balloondilation of the coronary vessel) is the preferred treatment for patients with an acute heart attack. Because of its limited availability worldwide, the majority of patients who are admitted to the hospital with a heart-attack are treated with clot-lysing drugs (thrombolysis).

5 Sep 2006

How effective is continued Plavix therapy in patients undergoing a repeat stent procedure?

Clopidogrel (Plavix) is used worldwide in millions of patients after placement of coronary artery stents. Sales of the drug exceed 5 billion US dollars.

5 Sep 2006

Prognostic stratification of obese patients by Stress 99mTc-Tetrofosmin Myocardial Perfusion Imaging

Researchers identified an accurate method that may detect whether obese individuals have a low, intermediate or high risk of coronary artery disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, notes a report in the August issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

2 Aug 2006

Study shows high survival for patients with torn aortas who get surgery

Nearly three years ago, actor John Ritter collapsed on the set of his sitcom, the victim of a rare but often deadly condition called aortic dissection - a tear in the largest blood vessel in the body.

11 Jul 2006

Diagnostic performance of stress perfusion and delayed-enhancement MR imaging in patients with coronary artery disease

A new cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique can noninvasively demonstrate blockage of the coronary arteries with high diagnostic accuracy, according to a study featured in the July issue of Radiology.

27 Jun 2006

Polio outbreak a setback for Namibia

Health officials in Namibia say initial tests indicate the country is experiencing an outbreak of polio.

6 Jun 2006

Misuse of ADHD drugs sends thousands each year to seek emergency hospital treatment

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have estimated that problems with the drugs used to treat attention deficit disorders force as many as 3,100 people to seek emergency hospital treatment each year.

25 May 2006

Air purifiers increase ozone levels exceeding health standards

In a small, poorly ventilated room, an indoor air purifier that produces even a few milligrams of ozone per hour can create an ozone level that exceeds public health standards, researchers at UC Irvine have found.

10 May 2006

Hypnotherapy relieves chest pain not linked to heart disease

According to a small study in the UK, hypnotherapy was helpful in relieving the angina-like chest pain experienced by some people which is not caused by heart disease.

23 Apr 2006

Photodynamic therapy may become the first line of treatment for Barrett's esophagus

When you think of heartburn, you probably think of greasy food, not cancer. You may not know that chronic heartburn is linked to esophageal cancer.

7 Apr 2006

Angina is more dangerous for women than was previously thought

The collaborative study, led by UCL (University College London) and funded by the British Heart Foundation, found that angina in women is as common as it is in men, in contrast to heart attacks (myocardial infarction) which have a higher rate in men.

21 Mar 2006

Wireless transmission of eletrocardiograms to a cardiologist's hand-held device from ambulance cuts time to direct clot removal

When emergency medical technicians (EMTs) wirelessly transmit eletrocardiograms (ECG) directly to a cardiologist's hand-held device, heart attack patients can potentially receive direct clot removal in half the usual time, according to cardiologists at Duke University Medical Center and NorthEast Medical Center, Concord, N.C.

14 Mar 2006

Mental stress induced ischemia more common than thought

Even when heart disease patients can pass stress tests done on a treadmill or with chemical stressors after treatment, their hearts may still suffer silent ischemia during mental stress, according to a new study in the Mar. 7, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

13 Mar 2006

Anxiety restricts blood flow in some patients

The fear of public speaking might cause some people to do more than just break out in a cold sweat and battle stomach-churning butterflies - it could prove to have consequences for their heart health.

13 Mar 2006

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) reduces angina

Patients with angina (chest pain) and left ventricular dysfunction respond very well to treatment using enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP), with little or no future heart failure events, according to researchers from the Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

1 Mar 2006

Statins lessen heart attack risk

For patients with undiagnosed heart disease, taking medications known as statins and beta-blockers may mean the difference between suffering a heart attack as a first symptom versus experiencing mild chest pain.

24 Feb 2006

Coronary stents that release the drugs sirolimus or paclitaxel produce similar results

Use of coronary stents that release the drugs sirolimus or paclitaxel produced similar results in patients with new coronary artery lesions, according to a study in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.