Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Gender gap in myocardial infarction mortality

Women are more likely to die from a myocardial infarction than men, according to research presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2012. The gender gap in mortality was independent of patient characteristics, revascularisation delays and revascularisation modalities.

20 Oct 2012

Chest pain patients who call ambulance have quicker treatment and better survival: Study

The Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2012 is the first annual meeting of the newly launched Acute Cardiovascular Care Association of the European Society of Cardiology.

20 Oct 2012

FDA expands approved indication for Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approved indication for the Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve (THV) to include patients with aortic valve stenosis who are eligible for surgery, but who are at high risk for serious surgical complications or death.

20 Oct 2012

Morton Plant first hospital in the Tampa Bay area to perform transapical TAVR

Morton Plant Hospital is the first hospital in the Tampa Bay area to perform Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) by the transapical approach. Transapical TAVR is the latest FDA-approved treatment for people suffering from severe aortic stenosis.

20 Oct 2012

Coronary angioplasty improves survival in all patients with out of hospital cardiac arrest

Coronary angioplasty improves survival in all patients with out of hospital cardiac arrest, according to research presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2012. The study was presented by Dr Annamaria Nicolino from the Santa Corona General Hospital in Pietra Ligure, Italy.

20 Oct 2012

Reprogrammed endothelial cells for treatment of vascular disorders

A research team at Weill Cornell Medical College has discovered a way to utilize diagnostic prenatal amniocentesis cells, reprogramming them into abundant and stable endothelial cells capable of regenerating damaged blood vessels and repairing injured organs.

19 Oct 2012

EMA CHMP issues positive opinion to Savient's KRYSTEXXA for treatment of chronic gout

Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Savient Pharma Ireland Limited, announced that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has completed its scientific assessment and has issued a positive opinion recommending approval of a marketing authorization in the European Union for KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of severe debilitating chronic tophaceous gout in adult patients who may also have erosive joint involvement and who have failed to normalize serum uric acid with xanthine oxidase inhibitors at the maximum medically appropriate dose or for whom these medicines are contraindicated.

19 Oct 2012

House dust protein worsens allergic asthma symptoms

A bacterial protein found in common house dust may worsen a person’s asthmatic response to other indoor allergens, say researchers.

19 Oct 2012

Canadian Task Force updates diabetes screening guidelines

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has updated its recommendations on screening asymptomatic adults for Type 2 diabetes.

19 Oct 2012

Psoriasis patients have high diabetes risk

People with psoriasis have an increased risk for developing Type 2 diabetes compared with people without the skin condition, suggest results from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Archives of Dermatology.

19 Oct 2012

All-cause mortality risk increased in bipolar depression

Depressed patients with bipolar disorder are at significantly greater risk for all-cause mortality, suicide, and accidental death than patients with other types of depression, Taiwanese study results show.

19 Oct 2012

Sleep disturbances trigger autoimmune diabetes in men

Psychosocial factors, including sleep disturbance, increase the risk for autoimmune diabetes in adults, research indicates.

19 Oct 2012

Integrative Medicine helps people heal faster

The body has an innate desire to heal itself. Encouraging self-healing is the focus of Greenwich Hospital's Integrative Medicine Program.

19 Oct 2012

Collaborative care improves depression and anxiety outcomes

Collaborative care, a model that involves multiple clinicians working with a patient, significantly improves depression and anxiety outcomes compared to standard primary care treatment for up to two years, finds a new review by The Cochrane Library.

19 Oct 2012

Viewpoints: NYT's Kristof on the death of his friend; Obama, Romney fight for women

I wrote in my last column about my uninsured college roommate, Scott Androes, and his battle with Stage 4 prostate cancer - and a dysfunctional American health care system. I was taken aback by how many readers were savagely unsympathetic. "Your friend made a foolish choice, and actions have consequences," one reader said in a Twitter message.

19 Oct 2012

Health law: Pa. says exchange unlikely to be ready in Jan. 2014; Miss. turning down Medicaid expansion money

In health law implementation news, Pennsylvania's insurance commissioner says a health insurance exchange likely won't be ready to rollout in January 2014, when the law says it should be ready. In Mississippi, leaders there are turning down the law's Medicaid expansion and the dollars that come with it.

19 Oct 2012

Longer looks: A Nobel for the economist behind the National Resident Matching Program; Helping Charlie end his life

A noted economist at Harvard, (Al) Roth was responsible for algorithms that matched medical students with their residency programs, children with their schools in Boston, and more recently, compatible kidney donors and transplant patients in paired donations.

19 Oct 2012

Study addresses potential benefits of treating anxiety in coronary artery disease

A study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics addresses the potential benefits of treating anxiety in coronary artery disease.

19 Oct 2012

Kaiser Permanente creates new electronic Exercise Vital Sign initiative

Kaiser Permanente has created a new electronic Exercise Vital Sign initiative to systematically record patients' physical activity in their electronic health records.

19 Oct 2012

EHRA ICD for Life Summit to be held in Belgrade, Serbia

An EHRA ICD for Life Summit will be held in Belgrade, Serbia, during 19-20 October, to discuss challenges and unmet needs in Central and Eastern European countries. The Summit is targeted at politicians, health insurance companies, policy makers, representatives of health ministries, arrhythmologists and electrophysiologists.

19 Oct 2012