Chest Pain News and Research

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BCVI introduces comprehensive program for patients with BAV

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease is the most common congenital heart defect, occurring in approximately one to two percent of the population. The condition is present when the aortic valve, the valve that connects the heart to the main artery that distributes blood to the body, contains two leaflets instead of three, which open and close to regulate blood flow. As a result, the valve does not function properly, which can cause strain on the heart over time and may lead to serious health complications.

4 Jul 2012

Prevalence of significant CAD in patients with chest pain symptoms is lower than expected in Europe

Preliminary findings from the EVINCI study show that the prevalence of "significant" coronary artery disease in patients with chest pain symptoms is lower than expected in Europe. In as much as 75% of this population an accurate non-invasive screening could avoid unnecessary and costly invasive procedures.

28 Jun 2012

Christiana Care receives $10 million CMMI grant to design new model

Christiana Care Health System has been awarded a $10 million grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to design a new care model that will harness pioneer information technology to transcend the gaps that currently exist within health care to provide more coordinated care and greater value for patients.

20 Jun 2012

Ethnic minority women ill-informed about heart disease

Black and Hispanic women are less likely than White women to be aware of heart disease risk and the symptoms of a heart attack, researchers say.

11 Jun 2012

LVRC safe and effective choice for patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema

A tiny, resilient metal wire designed to gather and compress diseased lung tissue may offer relief to patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema, a subtype of the disease that involves specific, usually isolated areas of the lungs, according to the results of a multicenter international trial conducted in the Netherlands, Germany and France. The wire, called a lung volume reduction coil (LVRC), can be easily implanted and is designed to take the place of more invasive procedures used to improve the lung function of emphysema patients.

24 May 2012

Number of Americans with kidney stones nearly doubled since 1994

The number of Americans suffering from kidney stones between 2007 and 2010 nearly doubled since 1994, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and RAND.

24 May 2012

Duke team, AHA to kick-off Regional Systems of Care Demonstration Project

Competing cardiac care teams in some of the nation's most populated areas will start working together to markedly reduce the time from heart attack to treatment as part of a new program designed by cardiologists at Duke University Medical Center.

14 May 2012

New mom receives surprise heart transplant

New mom Windy Hill, 38, of Kingsport, Tenn., was given the ultimate Mother's Day gift a little early after she was wheeled into the operating room at Vanderbilt University Hospital on April 20 to receive a mechanical pump to aid her failing heart and save her life.

14 May 2012

LAA occlusion effectively reduces risk of stroke in patients with A-fib

Patients with atrial fibrillation (A-fib) who cannot take blood thinners now have an alternative to reduce their risk of stroke, which is five times more common in people with the rhythm disorder. The non-surgical procedure works by tying off the left atrial appendage (LAA), the source of most blood clots leading to stroke in patients with A-fib. Northwestern Medicine- heart rhythm specialists from the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute were the first to perform this procedure in Illinois.

8 May 2012

New analysis on why some soldiers never seek PTSD care

U.S. Army researcher Maj. Gary H. Wynn, M.D., shared new analysis on why some Soldiers suffering from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) never seek care or drop out of treatment early during a presentation today at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting. His presentation, "Epidemiology of Combat-Related PTSD in U.S. Service Members: Lessons Learned," also described the approaches the Army is using to address this issue and improve overall patient outcomes.

8 May 2012

SCPC accredits Porter Adventist Hospital as Chest Pain Center

The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) recently awarded Porter Adventist Hospital full accreditation status as a Chest Pain Center.

2 May 2012

Pfizer receives FDA approval for Elelyso to treat Type 1 Gaucher disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Elelyso (taliglucerase alfa) for long-term enzyme replacement therapy to treat a form of Gaucher disease, a rare genetic disorder.

2 May 2012

Astounding lack of public awareness about lung cancer

An astounding lack of public awareness about lung cancer has been revealed in a Cancer Research UK study, published today.

30 Apr 2012

VIVUS receives FDA approval for Stendra to treat erectile dysfunction

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Stendra (avanafil), a new drug to treat erectile dysfunction.

30 Apr 2012

ESC launches European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) announced today the launch of the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care, the organisation's official journal of the ESC Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care.

20 Apr 2012

Enrollment complete for Ampio's multiple indication diagnostic clinical trials

Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a company that discovers and develops new uses for previously approved drugs and new molecular entities ("NMEs"), announced today that it has completed enrollment of patients for its multiple indication diagnostic clinical trials.

12 Apr 2012

Education tool helps chest pain patients decide on stress testing

Chest pain patients educated about their future heart attack risk and involved in deciding care options were more likely than less-aware patients to opt out of stress testing, according to research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

12 Apr 2012

ST2 more specific than BNP for heart failure diagnosis

Critical Diagnostics today announced publication in the latest issue of the Journal of Heart Failure results of a study involving 995 patients who presented to the emergency room (ER) with chest pain. The study concluded that in this undifferentiated, symptomatic patient population ST2 was more specific for acute heart failure than BNP and that ST2 is independently predictive of future death and/or heart failure and has incremental utility in combination with BNP.

12 Apr 2012

EKG can detect heart attack in healthy senior citizens

Can a simple diagnostic test used to measure a heart's electrical activity help predict heart attacks? And can that knowledge help doctors reroute their patients away from coronary heart disease? These are the questions researchers at UCSF asked in a comprehensive eight-year study focused on senior citizens in the United States. Researchers found a higher risk of heart attack when abnormalities showed up on electrocardiogram (EKG) results of healthy elderly people.

11 Apr 2012

VCAM1 nanobodies can effectively visualize atherosclerotic lesions

In collaboration with a Brussels University team under the leadership of Nick Devoogdt and a French team from INSERM, Serge Muyldermans and his team, associated with VIB and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, have succeeded in developing the first patient-friendly, non-invasive method for differentiating dangerous strictures in blood vessels, so-called vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, from less dangerous ones.

5 Apr 2012