Congestive Heart Failure News and Research

RSS

Congestive Heart Failure is a condition in which the heart can't pump blood the way it should. In some cases, the heart can't fill with enough blood. In other cases, the heart can't send blood to the rest of the body with enough force. Some people have both problems. "Heart failure" doesn't mean that your heart has stopped or is about to stop working. However, it's a serious condition that requires medical care. Heart failure develops over time as the pumping of the heart grows weaker. It can affect the right side of the heart only or both the left and right sides of the heart. Most cases involve both sides of the heart.

Cardiologists say a dramatic change is needed in treating some heart patients

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the U.S. a dramatic change is needed in the way hundreds of thousands of Americans with a form of heart failure should be treated.

8 Nov 2006

Bayer forgot to tell risks of heart surgery drug

According to the German drug giant Bayer AG, the reason the company failed to inform U.S. regulators about a study on the risks of the heart-surgery drug Trasylol was a mistake.

2 Oct 2006

1.6 million American adults use some form of complementary medicine to treat insomnia

A recent analysis of national survey data reveals that over 1.6 million American adults use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to treat insomnia or trouble sleeping according to scientists at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health.

19 Sep 2006

Endovascular repair of thoracic and abdominal aortic diseases as an alternative to open surgery in patients at high surgical risk

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Acute aortic syndromes, such as large thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms with impending rupture, complicated acute type B dissections, traumatic rupture of thoracic aorta, still represent life-threatening conditions.

5 Sep 2006

Advanced Biventricular Pacemakers to all patients with AV-block?

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Pacemaker treatment for bradycardia is frequently used with more than 500,000 people worldwide receiving a cardiac pacemaker each year.

5 Sep 2006

Breast cancer 'wonder drug' Herceptin carries a risk for heart problems

According to the latest research breast cancer wonder drug Herceptin puts some women at risk of heart problems.

15 Aug 2006

Gleevec may cause heart problems

Gleevec, the wildly successful poster-child of a new generation of cancer drugs aimed at specific targets in the cancer cell, can be dangerous to the heart.

24 Jul 2006

Study indicates heart damage from some cancer drugs worsens over the years

It is well documented that some anti-cancer drugs can damage the heart, but a long-term follow-up of children and young adults who had doxorubicin[1] treatment for bone tumours suggests that the damage gets progressively worse as the years go on.

19 Jul 2006

Bone marrow adult stem cells repair a damaged heart

Researchers at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at Toronto General Hospital have discovered the 'SOS' distress signal that mobilizes specific heart repair cells from the bone marrow to the injured heart after a heart attack.

3 Jul 2006

HERA trial continues to demonstrate significant patient benefits from Herceptin

New 23-month follow-up data from HERA, one of the largest breast cancer trials ever carried out, show that Herceptin (trastuzumab) following standard chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of death by 34% for women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

5 Jun 2006

Genes variations raise risk of heart disease after treatment for childhood cancer

Gene variations may raise the risk that survivors of childhood cancer will suffer congestive heart failure as a complication of drugs they received during cancer treatment.

5 Jun 2006

Pollution increases risks in people with diabetes, heart failure and other diseases

People with diabetes, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are at increased risk of death when they are exposed to particulate air pollution, or soot, for one or more years.

23 May 2006

Corticosteroids may be linked to an increased risk for atrial fibrillation

High doses of medications known as corticosteroids may be linked to an increased risk for atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder characterized by an irregular heartbeat, according to an article in the May 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

9 May 2006

Smokers more likely to receive jolt from defibrillators

If some patients with heart disease don't take their doctor's advice to quit smoking, they are probably going to get "shocking" reminders.

8 May 2006

New drug lixivaptan reduces excess fluid build-up in patients with congestive heart failure

Researchers believe they may have identified a new agent to reduce the excess fluid build-up in patients with congestive heart failure, one that avoids the relative sodium-depleting effects of diuretics, now the most commonly used drugs for this purpose.

3 May 2006

Transplanted stem cells hoped to be able to regenerate damaged heart muscle in first heart attack victims

Rush cardiologists are hoping that transplanted stem cells can regenerate damaged heart muscle in those who experience a first heart attack. The study involves an intravenous infusion of adult mesenchymal stem cells from healthy donor bone marrow that might possibly reverse damage to heart tissue.

28 Apr 2006

Study indicates how drug efficacy can be increased by manipulating the signalling mechanism

Researchers believe they have found a way to change the action of 60 percent of currently available medications, in some cases making them many times more effective, according to an article published in the April 21 edition of the journal Science. The discovery has the potential to improve treatments for diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and arthritis. The study describes a new way to manipulate perhaps the most important signaling mechanism in human cells: G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).

28 Apr 2006

Protein discovery opens up new therapeutic possibilities for epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases

UC Irvine researchers have found that a protein best known for building connections between nerve cells and muscle also plays a role in controlling brain cell activity.

23 Apr 2006

New guidelines for pulmonary complications

Pulmonary complications, including pneumonia and respiratory failure, are a common - and dangerous - problem for patients following major surgery.

19 Apr 2006

Angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors may reduce cardiovascular risk

Angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, medications commonly used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), may reduce cardiovascular risk and the risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease, according to a new analysis of previously conducted clinical trials reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

13 Apr 2006