Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

NIH launches "Knockout Mouse Project"

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project.

7 Sep 2006

Diabetes risk down three times with newer hypertension drugs

According to researchers patients given a mix of modern blood pressure drugs are one-third less likely to develop diabetes than those on older pills.

7 Sep 2006

Blindness added to the risk list of obesity

A report from the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) in the UK, says obese adults and children have twice the risk of losing their sight from a range of degenerative eye conditions.

7 Sep 2006

Closing in on lethal arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia in young athletes

Johns Hopkins experts on the genetics of a potentially lethal heart rhythm defect that runs in families and targets young athletes report they have greatly narrowed the hunt for the specific genetic mutations that contribute to the problem.

7 Sep 2006

UIC receives $20 million NCI grant to research blood disorders

A $19.6 million National Cancer Institute grant has been awarded to the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine to advance basic and clinical research for incurable blood disorders.

6 Sep 2006

Tenecteplase study halted

World Congress of Cardiology 2006 - Thrombolytic Therapy, given during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in out-ofhospital cardiac arrests, may be no better than placebo.

6 Sep 2006

Ultrasound targets angioplasty

World Congress of Cardiology 2006 - A simple technique - combining cardiac ultrasound with a heart muscle-stimulating drug - can identify the MI patients who would benefit most from angioplasty after thrombolysis, reports a study in Hot Line session II.

6 Sep 2006

First drug-eluting stent approved in Europe for most severe form of arterial disease in the leg

Cordis Endovascular, a division of Cordis Corporation, announced today that the Cypher Select Sirolimus-eluting stent received CE (Communite European) Mark in Europe for use in the treatment of severe claudication and critical limb ischemia (CLI) of infrapopliteal lesions, which is the most severe form of arterial disease in the leg.

6 Sep 2006

FDA approves limited use of artificial heart

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has given approval for limited use of an artificial heart.

6 Sep 2006

FDA approves AbioCor permanent artificial heart for humanitarian uses

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first totally implanted artificial heart for patients with advanced heart failure involving both pumping chambers of the heart under the Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) provisions of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

5 Sep 2006

FDA drafts new guidance to industry for group of medical tests

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued draft regulatory guidance for industry and clinical laboratories for a new type of medical test.

5 Sep 2006

Elderly atrial fibrillation patients lack adequate application of current management guidelines

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Although elderly AF patients are at much higher risk for stroke, they are undertreated for stroke prophylaxis compared to younger patients.

5 Sep 2006

New technology can help a tired heart

World Congress of Cardiology Report - We have shown that it is possible to care for ill patients affected by heart failure directly from home by controlling their heart rate, fluid retention, blood pressure and weight through new telemedicine techniques.

5 Sep 2006

Immunotherapy for heart failure

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Heart failure (HF) is a complex, progressive clinical syndrome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder, such as coronary artery disease or hypertension (high blood pressure), which impairs the ability of the heart to function properly as a pump.

5 Sep 2006

Redefining myocardial infarction for the 21st century

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Progress in the identification and quantification of biochemical markers of myocardial injury have led to a redefinition of myocardial infarction (MI).

5 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

Record your electrocardiogram wearing a shirt

World Congress of Cardiology Report - A shirt capable of recording the electrocardiogram (electrical activity of the heart) has been developed and tested in a European research project (WEALTHY, Wearable Health Care System), funded by the European Community.

5 Sep 2006

Identifying international differences in outcomes among patients with atherothrombotic disease may enhance strategies for risk reduction and prevention

World Congress of Cardiology Report - The Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) Registry investigators have released preliminary two-year outcomes data from this international, observational study which shows high rates of atherothrombotic events on a worldwide basis.

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

When to use bare-metal stents, when to use drug-eluting stents

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Drug-eluting stents (DES) are more effective than bare-metal stents (BMS) in reducing restenosis and in repeat interventions after percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).

5 Sep 2006