June 19, 2007, 5:05 AM CT

Bacterial pneumonia patients at increased risk of major heart problems

A new study suggests patients hospitalized with pneumonia may be at serious risk of new or worsening heart problems. The study is published in the July 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.

Researchers led by Daniel Musher, MD, studied the records of all 170 patients hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia at a Texas Veterans Affairs medical center from 2001 to 2005. They found that 19.4 percent of them had a heart attack or other major heart problem concurrently at the time of admission, and that the presence of the heart condition significantly increased mortality from pneumonia.

In this study, the authors note, when adult patients were hospitalized with a diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia, the concurrence of pneumonia and a new cardiac event was often unrecognized, especially in the first 12-24 hours of hospitalization, which led some patients to go without antibiotics for pneumonia and others to have no cardiac monitoring or anticoagulant therapy.

The authors propose that pneumonia increases the risk of heart problems by increasing the hearts demand for oxygen while simultaneously causing a decrease in the lungs ability to transfer oxygen from the air to the blood. Also, pneumonia raises blood levels of a type of a chemical signal called a cytokine that promotes the formation of blood clots and that decreases the efficiency of the heart......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

May 10, 2007, 10:38 PM CT

Young Women And Heart Attack Warning Signs

Most women 55 years and younger who have heart attacks don't recognize warning signs, scientists reported at the American Heart Association's 8th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

Women younger than 55 years represent less than 5 percent of all hospitalized heart disease patients, but because so a number of heart attacks occur in the United States each year, even this small percentage affects a large number of people. Young women with heart disease account for about 40,000 hospitalizations each year. Diseases of the heart in young women account for about 16,000 deaths annually, ranking it among the leading causes of death in this group, as per authors.

"The number of young women who die from coronary heart disease each year is roughly comparable to the number of women who die of breast cancer in this age group," said Judith Lichtman, Ph.D., lead author of the study. "Studies have shown that young women with heart disease are twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly aged men. While these statistics are startling, relatively little is known about the clinical presentation, care or outcomes of young women with heart disease".

In a pilot study, Lichtman and his colleagues studied 24 women (55 and younger) who had heart attacks and were admitted to one of two Connecticut hospitals. The scientists asked them about their symptoms before the heart attack and whether they recognized or understood that they were at risk for heart disease......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

April 29, 2007, 7:05 PM CT

FDA approves aliskiren for hypertension

The FDA approved aliskiren, the first hypertension treatment that inhibits renin.

Aliskiren (Tekturna, Novartis) is also the first, new type of hypertension drug approved by the FDA in more than a decade, according to company officials.

Aliskiren is a once-daily tablet (150 mg and 300 mg) indicated as monotherapy or in combination with other hypertension medications.

Franz Messerli, MD, director of the hypertension program in the division of cardiology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University, New York, said he is skeptical about where aliskiren fits into the antihypertensive arsenal.

"Is there a need for triple blockade of the renin angiotensin system and if so, what is the risk-benefit ratio?" Messerli, section editor of the Hypertension and Vascular Disease section of Today in Cardiology, said. "As it is introduced now, I don't see the exact place in the therapeutic arsenal".

According to the FDA, researchers evaluated aliskiren's effectiveness through six, placebo-controlled, eight-week clinical trials involving more than 2,000 patients with mild to moderate hypertension.

The antihypertensive effect was maintained for up to one year across all demographic subgroups; however, blacks tended to have smaller reductions in BP than whites and Asians. This is generally true for drugs that affect the renin-angiotensin system, according to the FDA......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:28:22 GMT

Mike King Diagnosed with Cardiac Problems

Comedian Mike King has been diagnosed with cardiac problems, which possibly are a result of a stroke that he had suffered in January. King was rushed to hospital with low blood pressure and dizziness on Monday. Medical investigations are being carried out to reach a diagnosis, confirmed his manager, David Steele.

King has already had scans, but he showed no signs of internal bleeding. The doctors will take two days to reach a solid diagnosis.

Possibility of a heart surgery cant be ruled out.

Steele was quoted saying,

It is completely up in the air. We are waiting for the specialists to finish their tests. He is in good spirits and we had a lot of jokes yesterday but he is very tired. Physically he is not 100 per cent but his demeanor is very good.

King had well survived the January cardiac arrest and did not reportedly have any paralysis or mobility issues.

Via

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April 23, 2007, 11:01 PM CT

A steady, high-fat diet is bad

So much for the adage, All things in moderation. Scientists at the University of Calgary have observed that people who consume a single, high-fat meal are more prone to suffer the physical consequences of stress than those who eat a low-fat meal.

Published this month in the Journal of Nutrition, the study looked at the stress responses of two groups of students: one group consumed a fast-food breakfast from McDonalds, the other ate dry cereal with skim milk, cereal bars and non-fat yogurt.

"Whats really shocking is that this is just one meal," says Dr Tavis Campbell, a specialist in behavioural medicine and senior author of the study.

"Its been well documented that a high-fat diet leads to artherosclerosis and high blood pressure, and that exaggerated and prolonged cardiovascular responses to stress are linked to hypertension in the future. So when we learn that even a single, high-fat meal can make you more reactive to stress, its cause for concern because it suggests a new and damaging way that a high-fat diet affects cardiovascular function." .

In the study, 30 healthy young adults fasted the night before, then consumed either a high- or low-fat breakfast. Both meals had the same number of calories and the low-fat breakfast included supplements to balance it for sodium and potassium......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

April 21, 2007, 8:22 AM CT

Link Between Heart Defect And Migraines

Scientists of the heart and headaches at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are combining efforts to determine if a common heart defect may be the cause of some forms of migraine headaches.

Investigators from the Jefferson Heart Institute and the Jefferson Headache Center are enrolling participants in a blinded study to determine if closing a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), a small hole or flap that can allow blood to flow between the right and left sides of the heart, can stop migraines. In newborns, the PFO closes at or shortly after birth, but in 20 percent of adults the gap remains open to some degree.

More than 28 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches. Debilitating migraine headaches cause major disruption in individual's lives and cost billions of dollars in lost work, school and medical therapy each year. More than one quarter of the people who struggle with migraines have the heart defect.

Most people who have a PFO are never screened for it because doctors rarely suspect it of causing health problems but new evidence suggests that individuals with PFO are more susceptible to migraine. This susceptibility is thought to bedue to the passage of material from the right side of the heart to the left side of the heart via the PFO. Blood and material that travels through the PFO is not filtered or oxygenated and in this form may travel to the brain, which can trigger the changes in the blood vessels that underlies migraine......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

March 27, 2007, 9:46 PM CT

Coronary Procedure Adds No Benefit

Percutaneous coronary intervention plus optimal medical treatment does not improve outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease, compared with optimal medical treatment alone, as per study results presented yesterday at the 56th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans, and published online in the New England Journal (NEJM).

The Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation (COURAGE) Trial, conducted by the Cooperative Studies Program of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), was a randomized, controlled study involving 2,287 patients with stable coronary artery disease treated at 15 VA medical centers, as well as 35 other U.S. and Canadian medical centers. The study, conducted between 1999 and 2004, was also supported by several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that contributed funding, drugs and medical devices or supplies.

COURAGE participantsmost of them Caucasian males, with an average age of 62had at least one coronary artery that was more than 70-percent blocked. They experienced regular chest pain (angina) at least several times per week. About 38 percent had a history of heart attack, 33 percent had diabetes, 71 percent had high cholesterol and 67 percent had high blood pressure......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

March 25, 2007, 7:15 PM CT

Heart failure medication provides symptom relief

A medicine used to treat heart failure, tolvaptan, appears to improve some symptoms and signs of heart failure during hospitalization, but does not reduce the risk of re-hospitalization or death, as per two articles in the March 28 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual conference.

During the past 2 decades, there have been substantial advances in drug treatment for chronic heart failure (HF), but the number of annual hospitalizations for HF continues to increase, and the risk of death remains high among patients hospitalized with HF, as per background information in the first article. "To date, no therapy initiated at the time of hospitalization for acute decompensated [characterized by severe symptoms and signs] HF has been found to improve clinical outcomes. In fact, in randomized controlled trials of such therapys, the observed clinical benefits have been marginal at best, and concern has been raised about the adverse effect of these therapys on long-term clinical outcomes."

Marvin A. Konstam, M.D., of Tufts - New England Medical Center, Boston, and his colleagues with the Efficacy of Vasopressin Antagonism in Heart Failure: Outcome Study With Tolvaptan (EVEREST) trial, examined the long-term clinical outcomes of the heart failure medicine tolvaptan. The trial, comprised of two short-term clinical status studies, included 4,133 patients hospitalized with heart failure at 359 North American, South American, and European sites between October 2003 and February 2006, and followed up during long-term therapy. Within 48 hours of hospital admission, the patients were randomly assigned to receive oral tolvaptan, 30 mg once per day (n = 2,072), or placebo (n = 2,061) for a minimum of 60 days, in addition to standard treatment......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

March 23, 2007, 9:49 PM CT

Heart Failure And Death From Stroke

People with heart failure are twice as likely to die from a stroke as the general population, new research at Mayo Clinic has found.

A random sample of 630 patients with heart failure was identified over a 20-year period, from 1979 through 1999, in this community-based study. Stroke risk in heart failure was compared with the risk in the general population using standard morbidity ratios. In the 30 days following a heart failure diagnosis, patients were at a 17-fold increased risk of stroke compared with the general population, and the risk remained elevated during the five years of follow-up.

"This research shows that preventing strokes has the potential to improve survival among patients with heart failure, and that stroke prevention should be among our key priorities for patients newly diagnosed with heart failure," says Veronique Roger, M.D., a heart specialist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who led the study.

The occurrence of a stroke among patients with heart failure resulted in a large increase in the risk of subsequent death compared with heart failure patients who remained stroke free.

Older people with a prior stroke or diabetes were more likely to experience a stroke, the research found.

In the past, studies have examined the occurence rate of stroke in heart failure, but findings were inconsistent and difficult to interpret, Dr. Roger says. While heart failure is a condition with a poor prognosis, the excess mortality from stroke had been unknown, she says......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source

March 23, 2007, 9:44 PM CT

Performing Surgery On A Beating Heart

As per a review of the latest clinical trials, coronary artery bypass surgery performed on a beating heart, without the aid of a heart-lung machine, is a safe option that leads to fewer negative side effects for bypass patients. This review is featured in Journal of Cardiac Surgery.

"Previously, it was more common for doctors to perform artery bypass surgery on the heart by stopping the heart and passing the blood through a heart-lung machine," says author Dr. Shahzad Raja.

"However, this process frequently leads to 'whole body inflammation,' which includes complications such as brain swelling, heart arrhythmia and infections." As per Raja, performing the surgery on the beating heart, while more technically challenging for the surgeon, keeps these side effects low and allows for a quicker recovery.

"If the surgeons are skilled enough to perform the surgery without stopping the heart, it can be offered to high-risk patients who would not be likely to survive the side effects of the traditional stopped-heart method," says Raja. "For this reason, quality training needs to be provided for those surgeons who wish to offer this option to their patients"......... Posted by: Sandra      Read more         Source