Heart Failure News and Research

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Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which a problem with the structure or function of the heart impairs its ability to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the body's needs. It should not be confused with cardiac arrest or myocardial infarction.

More Americans have their blood pressure under control

According to a new study far more Americans now have their blood pressure under control which is good news especially with regard to the risks of heart attack, stroke and other diseases.

12 Dec 2006

Cause of exercise intolerance in heart failure patients

A new study shows that blood flow to the legs is relatively normal in people with diastolic heart failure, suggesting other potential causes of their inability to do everyday activities, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

19 Nov 2006

FDA expands use of Herceptin

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of Herceptin, a biological cancer drug. The new indication is for Herceptin, in combination with other cancer drugs, for the treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer after surgery (lumpectomy or mastectomy).

19 Nov 2006

Angioplasty no better than drugs for heart attack victims who delay treatment

In what will come as a surprise to many doctors, researchers in the United States how found that contrary to current belief, heart attack survivors with mild or no symptoms who wait three days or more to seek medical help, will achieve little benefit from the procedures used to open clogged arteries.

15 Nov 2006

Investigational drug tolvaptan treats hyponatremia

Results of the two largest studies on hyponatremia, SALT-1 and SALT-2, presented Nov. 14 at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago, found that the investigational drug tolvaptan treated hyponatremia -- water intoxication -- faster and more effectively than available treatments.

14 Nov 2006

Gender differences in heart failure

Women tend to live longer with heart failure than do men, and they also tend to have a less severe form of the disease, which is characterized by reduced performance of the heart muscle, according to a study by Duke University Medical Center cardiologists.

14 Nov 2006

Waltzing is the way to mend a broken heart!

Italian researchers have found that in patients recovering from heart attacks dancing the waltz was as effective as routine training programs for improving heart health.

13 Nov 2006

Brits to trial stem cell treatment for heart attack victims

In an experimental treatment which aims to prevent heart failure and death following a heart attack, doctors in Britain will trial a treatment which uses a patients own stem cells.

8 Nov 2006

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

Underlying causes, frequencies, and outcomes of dilated cardiomyopathy

The mystery behind a commonly untreatable and undetected heart muscle disease in children is partially revealed for the first time in today's edition of the scientific journal JAMA.

17 Oct 2006

Hospitals reduce elderly mortality rate, though gap between best, worst hospitals in U.S. widened in 2005

Patients ages 65 and older last year were 69% less likely to die at hundreds of the best hospitals than hundreds of the worst, according to a study conducted by Colorado-based Health Grades, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

17 Oct 2006

Check out hospital rating before checking in

According to the latest study, the gap between the best and worst performing hospitals in the United States has widened by as much as 5 percent since last year.

17 Oct 2006

Generic hypertension drug a suspect in 19 deaths in Panama

As a result of a mystery illness that has claimed the lives of 19 people, officials in Panama have withdrawn all stocks of a hypertension drug used by thousands to treat high blood pressure.

9 Oct 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

Sunshine Heart awarded $2.15m grant to support development of heart assist device

Sunshine Heart, Inc., today announced it has been awarded a second Commercial Ready Grant (CRG) from the Australian Government to help fund further development of its revolutionary C-Pulse heart assist device.

21 Sep 2006

Carbon monoxide shown to reverse symptoms of pulmonary hypertension

In a medical case of Jekyll and Hyde, carbon monoxide - the highly toxic gas emitted from auto exhausts and faulty heating systems - has proven effective in treating the symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), an extremely debilitating condition that typically leads to right heart failure and eventual death.

20 Sep 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

GRK2 protein -a potential biomarket for heart failure

A team of cardiology researchers at Thomas Jefferson University has determined that GRK2, a protein that plays an important regulatory role in heart failure, is elevated in patients with failing hearts when compared to patients with normal heart function.

12 Sep 2006

New wireless internet technologies could reduce physician visits for patients with chronic diseases

The New York Times on Saturday examined new technologies that will allow tens of millions of U.S. residents with chronic diseases such as heart failure, diabetes and mental illnesses to have their conditions "constantly monitored, remotely and virtually, as they go about their daily lives."

11 Sep 2006