Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

New teatment for intractable low blood pressure

Patients are generally pleased with a new Mayo Clinic drug treatment for a common form of impaired nerve transmission that causes dizziness and fainting when patients change position from lying down to standing up, and most want to continue using it.

28 Apr 2004

Cholesterol-lowering statin products may be the next class of drugs to go over the counter

Cholesterol-lowering statin products may be the next class of drugs to go over the counter (OTC), according to "Cardiovascular Marketing," a new study by business intelligence firm Cutting Edge Information.

28 Apr 2004

$4.5 million contract to develop heart assist devices for infants

The University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine has been awarded a five-year $4.5 million contract from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to develop a heart assist device for infants.

28 Apr 2004

Serious allergic reactions in cancer patients require expert intervention

Studies show that up to 35 percent of cancer patients are at risk for an allergic reaction to their cancer therapy. Yet, the same drug causing the reaction could be the drug that best helps to control the disease.

28 Apr 2004

Sprouts and broccoli may reduce risk of high blood pressure

Glucoraphanin, also known as sulforaphane glucosinolate (SGS(TM)), a naturally-occurring compound found in broccoli sprouts and broccoli, may reduce risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to new research published in the May 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

28 Apr 2004

Wyeth to appeal $1 billion awarded to the family of a woman who died after using fen-phen diet drug

Wyeth said today it will appeal today's verdict in the case of Jerry Coffey (representing the estate of Cynthia Cappel-Coffey), et al. v. Wyeth, et al.

27 Apr 2004

$11 million for lung injury research

Northwestern University has received an $11 million Program Project Grant (PPG) from the National Institutes of Health to define the mechanisms that cause changes in the alveolar epithelium during lung injury.

27 Apr 2004

BioTime awarded a research grant for blood plasma volume expander

BioTime, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a research grant by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for use in the development of its HetaCool® blood plasma volume expander following peer review.

27 Apr 2004

Women who have migraines with aura have a more than 50 percent increased risk of total stroke and 70 percent increase of ischemic stroke

Women who have migraines with aura have a more than 50 percent increased risk of total stroke and 70 percent increase of ischemic stroke compared to those without migraines, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 56th Annual Meeting

27 Apr 2004

Heart disease and stroke hit younger in developing countries

A new report to be released at Columbia University's Earth Institute on April 26, 2004, suggests that heart disease and stroke are far more urgent threats to global health than commonly appreciated. They are causing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year in young people of productive age.

26 Apr 2004

New Saint Louis University research sheds light on how obesity occurs

Saint Louis University researchers believe they’ve won a major skirmish in the battle of the bulge, and their findings are published in the May issue of Diabetes.

26 Apr 2004

Smoking tobacco with a water pipe increasingly popular among women

Smoking tobacco using a water pipe - also called a hookah -- generally is viewed in a more positive light than smoking cigarettes, particularly for women, according to one of the first studies on water pipe and cigarette smoking to look at social attitudes and gender.

26 Apr 2004

Injections of adult stem cells could repair hearts

Injections of adult stem cells into damaged heart tissue significantly improved heart function in patients with severe congestive heart failure, according to results of the first prospective randomized trial of the experimental therapy presented today at the American Association for Thoracic Surgery.

26 Apr 2004

Cardiac Intensive Care Unit lowest heart attack rates in the state of Texas

That’s because the CICU he runs has the lowest myocardial infarction (heart attack) mortality in the entire South Texas region. It has one of the lowest rates in the state of Texas.

23 Apr 2004

CellCept linked to reduced cancer incidence

A study presented today at an international transplant meeting showed that heart transplant patients treated with the immunosuppressant CellCeptÒ (mycophenolate mofetil) in standard immunosuppressive regimens had a significantly lower risk of developing cancer compared to those receiving non-CellCept-based treatment regimens.

23 Apr 2004

Socially deprived individuals are 44% more likely to develop heart failure

Socially deprived individuals are 44% more likely to develop heart failure but 23% less likely to see their general practitioner on a regular basis compared with affluent patients, finds new research available on bmj.com.

22 Apr 2004

Marker predicts patients who are seven times more likely to die after suffering a heart attack

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found a protein in the blood that may one day produce a simple and inexpensive test to help determine who is at high risk for problems following a heart attack.

22 Apr 2004

Transplant survival rates decreased significantly (43%) when patients had abnormal or diseased aortic valves before receiving an LVAD

More and more, physicians are using the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, to sustain patients who are awaiting heart transplants. The surgically implanted mechanical device takes over for weak and diseased hearts, acting as a bridge to transplant surgery.

22 Apr 2004

Expert calls for standard epinephrine doses when treating children in cardiac arrest

Medical personnel attempting to resuscitate a child in cardiac arrest should abide by epinephrine dosing levels outlined in the Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines rather than giving larger amounts of the drug, says a nationally recognized pediatrician from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

22 Apr 2004

Fish oil reduces heart attack and blood vessel disease

Fish oil can help reduce deaths from heart disease, according to new evidence reports announced today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

22 Apr 2004