May 13, 2008 The Silent Destroyer – Part Four: We’ve covered all the lifestyle change bases related to hypertension except diet and activity. While most of us have a general idea of what we need to eat and how to stay moving, actually going from wherever we are to getting blood-pressure friendly meals on the table...
	March 07, 2008 Diabetes and Joint Surgery Increases Heart Risk: Patients with diabetes who undergo either knee or hip replacement surgery are more likely to suffer complications than patients without diabetes...
	February 14, 2008 The Silent Destroyer: Part Three : In this installment of our update on hypertension, the silent destroyer, we will offer some approaches to behavior changes that increase your chances of keeping blood pressure readings within acceptable ranges.
	December 10, 2007 Screening For Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: It is usually just recommended for men ages 65 and up, unless you have other risk factors...
	November 26, 2007 Preventive Antibiotics Not Necessary For Most Dental-related Heart Problems: Precautionary antibiotics before dental work are not necessary for most people...
	November 12, 2007 The Silent Destroyer: Part Two: The connection between blood pressure and obesity is explored...
	November 05, 2007 High Blood Pressure: The Silent Destroyer: Even though hypertension is silent and usually causes no discernible symptoms, its destructive work proceeds...
	October 22, 2007 Healthy Hearts: Keeping The Beat : Heart arrhythmias are common and dangerous, but they can be treated...
	October 01, 2007 Defibrillators In The Home: Giving People The Chance To Help Save Lives: A lunchbox-sized red case sits in Art Garofalo's living room in Weston, Massachusetts, a constant reminder to him that he is a lucky man...
	September 17, 2007 Women Have Poor Understanding of Cholesterol: Only one in five women between the ages of 18 and 44 know their cholesterol level, despite the fact that cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease...
August 27, 2007 Dental Health Problems May Increase Heart Disease Risk: A strong link between our dental health and our overall health is being made...
August 13, 2007 Young at Heart: Science Says the Old Saying May be On Target: Recent research from the University of Pittsburgh looks at cardiovascular function and its effect on frailty...
July 23, 2007 New Heart Implant May Help Prevent Stroke: A new heart implant device may help prevent stroke by preventing atrial fibrillation, a common type of irregular heartbeat...
July 09, 2007 Heart Health and Magnesium: Studies Suggest Link: We all know we should eat right, but the days can slip by so easily without making the necessary changes...
June 11, 2007 Cardiologist Comments on Walnut Study and Benefits of Mediterranean Diet: We speak with a cardiologist about what is happening and what needs to happen...
April 30, 2007 Most Angioplasties Are Unnecessary: New research suggests that a regimen of drugs and healthy living is just as effective at relieving chest pain as angioplasty...
April 09, 2007 Mediterranean Diet Still Best Eating Plan for Heart: The Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet and the Mediterranean Diet – oh my...
March 05, 2007 Results Of Recent Viagra Heart Study Are Promising: Doctors and researchers at Johns Hopkins believe that the popular Viagra drug may be useful for cardiovascular treatments...
February 20, 2007 Man Receives First Temporary Total Artificial Heart in Northeast United States: Penn cardiac surgeons use new "bridge to transplant" technology on 46-year-old man...
February 05, 2007 Men With High Blood Pressure Who Drink Moderate Amounts of Alcohol May Have a Lower Risk of Heart Attack: This finding is according to a study appearing in the January issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine...
November 27, 2006 Angioplasty Study Questions One-Size-Fits-All Approach for Heart Patients: New research raises some important questions about angioplasty as a treatment for heart attack...
November 13, 2006 Walnuts Found Superior to Olive Oil in Protecting Arteries: You may want to start incorporating a few more walnuts into your diet after reading about this new study...
October 30, 2006 New Studies Confirm Heart Health and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Connection : For decades cardiologists around the world have asked the question: How can we best care for our hearts?
October 17, 2006 Strength Training Helps Middle-Age Women Reduce Heart Disease Risk : There are some simple and manageable steps you can take to reduce your risk of heart attack...
October 04, 2006 Soy: Good for You but Not Magic Food: Life is full of paradoxes. A current one is that even as epidemics in overweight, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes sweep the developed world – and heart disease kills more Americans that any other illness – we are maturing in our understanding of what it means to eat well...
September 20, 2006 Grandma’s Unplugged! – Part Three : It was when she first got home and all the family was over at her condo that Blackwell will always remember...
August 30, 2006 Grandma’s Unplugged! – Part Two: “Apparently they got me all sewed up and the surgeon had just taken his gloves off when I died. My heart stopped...
August 18, 2006 Grandma’s Unplugged! Mystery Pains Turn into Triple Bypass: But there never was a correlation that Olive Blackwell could see between her activities and the onset of the horrible squeezing pains in her chest...
July 31, 2006 Watch Your Heart Health – But Maybe Not With Green Tea: It’s good for you! It’s bad for you! These days it’s hard to keep track of what foods, herbs and supplements you’re supposed to add to, or subtract from, your diet...
July 14, 2006 B Vitamins and Rethinking Cardiovascular Health: In the world of heart disease and stroke, there are a few axioms conventional wisdom upholds. A healthy diet is important for cardiovascular health. Regular exercise is recommended...
June 29, 2006 Irish Getting Luckier, Living with Healthier Hearts: If healthiness is any indication of one’s luck, it seems that the Irish are getting even luckier over the past few years. But perhaps luck doesn’t have anything to do with a recent study’s reports of an almost 50 percent decrease in deaths caused by coronary artery disease...
June 16, 2006 Grape Seed Study Shows Promise for People with High Blood Pressure: A recent study out of the University of California at Davis showed that patients who took grape seed extract significantly reduced their blood pressure and in some cases even lowered their LDL cholesterol levels...
June 02, 2006 Words Can Really Hurt You: How We Fight Affects the Heart: Disagreements and discord are inevitable in relationships. But it’s the way we say things when we’re in the heat of an argument that can have a negative effect on our heart health...
May 19, 2006 Fighting Bad Cholesterol: Gap between Optimal and Actual Levels Widens: We’ve heard a lot about “good” and “bad” cholesterol lately, but according to a recent study out of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the message can’t be taken too lightly...
May 04, 2006 Study Questions Heart Benefits of Treating Mildly Underactive Thyroids: A research team recently found that the best strategy for treating mildly underactive thyroid glands may be to skip treatment altogether...
April 21, 2006 Aspirin’s Heart Benefits Differ by Gender: The heart protective benefits from a daily dose of aspirin may apply more to men than women, but women may experience fewer strokes when taking aspirin, according to a new study...
April 07, 2006 Non-Invasive Test Detects Heart Disease Risk: A team of medical researchers at the Mayo Clinic recently discovered the benefits of a simple device, known as an arterial tonometer, to detect arterial stiffness and its association with levels of coronary artery calcium...
March 23, 2006 Healthy Hearts with Whole Grains: Eating whole grains protect against heart disease – as well as the usual litany of cancer, diabetes, stroke, intestinal disease and obesity. That said, consider yourself a member of the elite if you get three servings of these preferred foods a day...
March 13, 2006 Key Factors for Successful Heart Attack Treatment: In a recently published study, researchers identified a series of factors that are crucial in enabling hospitals and care centers to respond quickly and efficiently to the needs of heart attack patients...
March 01, 2006 Sweet News: Studies Show Dark Chocolate Promotes Heart Health: It’s dark, it’s delicious and it may no longer be as decadent. Chocolate, the candy that’s often packaged in a heart-shaped box, has been shown to promote heart health...
February 13, 2006 Staying Hydrated Makes for Good Heart Health : “I can always tell if I didn’t get enough fluid during the day because when night comes I’ll want ice cream or a beer or milk and cookies,” said 55 year-old Charles Taylor...
January 26, 2006 Cross Our Hearts and Hope to Live – Better Heart Care for Women : She was driving a school bus full of children home when a car swerved into her lane. The wayward vehicle narrowly missed the yellow bus, but sent the school bus driver’s chest into a cramped knot...
January 13, 2006 Simple Precautions Can Help Prevent Strokes: In an instant a stroke can turn an active life on its head. Before someone knows what’s happened, they can find themselves as a patient with seriously-impaired mobility, speech and vision...
December 29, 2005 Time for an Oil Change – Trans Fat Battle Escalates: New York City health commissioner Thomas R. Frieden, M.D. thinks it’s all well and good that as of January 2006 the FDA will finally require food manufacturers to list trans fatty acids on Nutrition Facts labels of packaged foods...
December 16, 2005 Chronic Stress Leads to Poor Health: “It’s all in your head.” While this comment might have been dismissive and caused many patients in the post- World War II era, research over the past 25 years increasingly concludes that there are links between the brain and the body’s physical health...
December 01, 2005 A Safer Method for Aortic Aneurysm Repair: Aortic aneurysms are a very dangerous condition in which a portion of the aorta becomes stretched thin and bulges. New research has led health care specialists to consider a newer, safer alternative to open surgery for the repair of ruptured aortic aneurisms...
November 17, 2005 Cardiac Care for Blacks Lags Behind Care for Whites: Class, race and gender disparities within the healthcare system are nothing new. The problem is, however, that even though they have been identified and documented, they haven’t gone away...
November 03, 2005 Get Moving – The Science Behind Exercise : According to nutrition specialist Bob Wilson, “The body truly is a mechanical, biochemical, and electrically integrated machine. When we choose to be physically active on a regular basis...
October 20, 2005 Gender Disparities Plague Women’s Access to Quality Heart Attack Care: New findings that analyzed 2,857 heart attack survivors attest to the idea that women do not receive the attention men do when it comes to heart attack care...
October 06, 2005 We’re Serious: Laughter is Good for your Heart: As one new study found depression could increase the risk of death, another discovered that a good laugh could be a step towards a prolonged life...
September 23, 2005 The Night the Music Stopped - A Stroke Story - Part Five: It’s almost mid-August and Mack Lowell has beaten at least some of the odds - out of the nursing home/assisted living place that he has absolutely nothing good to say about...
September 09, 2005 The Night the Music Stopped – A Stroke Story - Part Four: “Not in the mood for music.” Mack Lowell’s pronouncement more than anything the physicians had said seemed to cast the grimmest pall over his situation...
August 23, 2005 The Night the Music Stopped – A Stroke Story - Part Three: Frustration and worse inevitable for Mack Lowell? So far the jury’s still out, but it’s not looking very good. From the therapists two weeks after the stroke came, the word that the leg would probably come back but the arm was less promising...
August 10, 2005 The Night the Music Stopped – A Stroke Story - Part Two: As it turned out Mack Lowell lay on his living room floor for 16 hours before neighbors stopping by to drink a beer found him. By then he could barely talk intelligibly but was lucid enough to get mad when those who found him refused to light up a cigarette for him...
July 09, 2005 The Night the Music Stopped – A Stroke Story - Part One: The Doors were belting out Riders on the Storm, and Mack Lowell felt funny so he thought he’d go in and get some aspirin. He never made it across the living room. Unable to figure out what was happening but knowing he needed help, he kept trying to get up and reach the phone...
July 05, 2005 Guidant and Implant Industry Under Fire: Americans used to make sci fi jokes about bionic men from Mars. As the 21st century unfolds, though, thousands of people are going bionic with anatomical structures or physiological processes that are replaced or enhanced by electronic or mechanical components...
June 07, 2005 Skip the Fat and Sodium to Stay Stroke Free: For diet-conscious adults who worry about how the food they eat now will affect them later, new findings suggest that it may be time to say, “hold the fries.” This is because, in addition to more familiar statistics about cardiac and circulatory health, fat and sodium also seem to play a key role...
May 19, 2005 Staying Clear-Headed – Link Between Heart Health and Dementia : Losing one’s mental faculties just as wisdom is finally setting in surely is one of modern life’s great injustices. Said 84-year-old Bill Lawrence of Portland, Oregon who peered through large red-rimmed bifocals...
April 26, 2005 Age + Gender + Heart Disease = Increased Attention for Older Women: Aging is hard enough, but being female in a patriarchy makes it doubly difficult – especially when it comes to heart disease. Still, older women’s chance of receiving adequate diagnosis and treatment is on the rise...
April 14, 2005 FDA Says Goodbye to Bextra: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested that Pfizer, Inc. voluntarily withdraw the arthritis drug Bextra from the market on the basis of inadequate data on cardiovascular safety and possible skin complications...
April 07, 2005 Schiavo Case Highlights Hidden Dangers of Eating Disorders: Most Americans know the story of Terri Schiavo,who fell into a persistent vegetative state (PVS) several years ago as a result of a heart attack. What may be surprising to some is that the cause of the heart attack was an eating disorder...
March 31, 2005 Predicting Heart Disease and Stroke – Give me a C, R, P: Say the word heart attack or stroke and everyone pays attention. Thus even as the population puts on more weight and languishes on couches in front of TVs, Americans have worked hard to keep their cholesterol levels in tow...
March 15, 2005 Have a Heart – Clinicians Clash with Researchers Over Stem Cells : Anyone who’s heard the story of Billy the Kid knows that life on the frontier can be a free-for-all. Even though it’s not the Old Wild West, the field of regenerative medicine – using stem cells to repair the body instead of drugs and surgery – is clearly a frontier...
March 03, 2005 Listening – The Key to Diagnosing Women’s Heart Disease : Of all the women who die each year from heart attacks, 2/3 had no symptoms that either the physician or the patient identified as serious. And according to the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, heart disease takes the lives of more than 250,000 American women...
February 14, 2005 Broken Heart Syndrome – Sudden Emotional Stress Can Stun Heart : Wesley Smith smiled when he thought of the long stem Ecuadorian red roses he planned to put into his mother’s arms when he walked through the door. But after he heard about the broken heart syndrome Smith decided to skip the surprise and call ahead...
February 08, 2005 Move It or Lose It – Regular Exercise Promotes Heart Health: Once again it comes down to lifestyle. The latest jury of researchers reporting in Science claim those who get up off the couch have healthier hearts. Specifically the study singles out endurance exercise – the good old cardio workout.
January 26, 2005 National Wear Red Day to Remind Americans of #1 Killer of Women: Heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the United States. On Feb. 4, thousands of awareness advocates will don red ribbons and other red apparel to raise consciousness about what is often referred to as the “silent killer” of women.
January 12, 2005 Cardiovascular Warning for Pfizer’s Bextra: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced new warnings for the popular arthritis drug Bextra, manufactured by Pfizer, Inc. The drug, used as a painkiller and anti-inflammatory agent, will now carry a bolded warning.
December 27, 2004 Pfizer’s Celebrex Study Shows Heart-Attack Risk: Drug company Pfizer Inc. said in a Dec. 17th press release that one of its studies has shown an increased risk of heart attack for patients taking Celebrex, which like the recently-recalled Vioxx, is part of a class of painkillers known as cox-2 inhibitors.
December 13, 2004 Alpha-linolenic Acid May Be Instrumental in Women’s Heart Health: A recent report from the American Heart Association’s 2004 Scientific Sessions notes that diets rich in alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), may help to prevent sudden cardiac death in women.
December 01, 2004 Questionnaire Helps Patients Size Up Risk of Heart Disease : Researchers of the Framingham Heart Study in Framingham, Massachusetts have invented a questionnaire that they say will help patients learn their own risk of developing heart disease after providing a few simple answers.
November 04, 2004 Study Urges Fruit, Vegetables for Heart: A multiyear study involving more than 100,000 participants provides added support that eating lots of fruit and vegetables is good for the heart.
November 01, 2004 FDA: Olive Oil May Boost Heart Health: The monounsaturated fat in olive oil may reduce the chances of suffering coronary heart disease, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday, opening the door to revised food labels.
October 28, 2004 Infants Can Adjust to Heart Transplants: Infants receiving heart transplants from donors with a different blood type can learn to tolerate the foreign tissue, possibly expanding the pool of organs available to babies who might otherwise die on the waiting list, researchers say.
October 21, 2004 Erectile Dysfunction May Indicate Future Heart Disease: Men who have sexual problems may want to visit their doctor, and not just for the “little blue pill” or other medicine for erectile dysfunction (ED). Impotence can signify greater medical problems, including the beginning stages of heart disease.
October 20, 2004 Study: Traffic Boosts Heart Attack Risk: Does heavy traffic make you feel all sweaty and tight in the chest? It could be more than road rage: It could be a heart attack.
October 18, 2004 FDA Approves Temporary Artificial Heart: The Food and Drug Administration approved the first temporary artificial heart for use in patients at risk of dying as they await a heart transplant, device manufacturer SynCardia Systems announced Monday,
October 14, 2004 Tony Blair: A Cardiac Catheterization Success Story: British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the growing ranks of patients to benefit from cardiac catheterization on October 1. In recent years this minimally invasive technique has been heralded as a highly successful method for treating several types of cardiac arrhythmia.
October 08, 2004 VIOXX Pulled From Market After Link to Heart Attack and Stroke: More than 84 million people worldwide face a reduced incidence of heart attack, stomach bleeding, or stroke now that VIOXX, the popular arthritis medication, has been pulled from the market.
October 07, 2004 Report: Other Drugs May Raise Heart Risks: Scientists in the United States and Great Britain are calling for a fresh look at Celebrex and other medications similar to Vioxx, the heavily advertised arthritis drug pulled from the market last week after a study suggested it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
October 03, 2004 Vioxx Withdrawal Causes Concern About FDA: Americans should feel reasonably safe taking government-approved prescription drugs-- with a few caveats-- even after a popular arthritis medication was pulled from the market, medical experts say. Vioxx was the first prescription drug since 2001 to be taken off the market for safety reasons. Its maker, Merck & Co., cited an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in people who used the medication.
October 01, 2004 Panel: Childhood Obesity Needs Attention: Schools, food makers, government agencies and families themselves must work together to reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity, a panel of scientists said Thursday.
September 30, 2004 Implant Device Appears to Block Strokes: A tiny tent-like device implanted into the heart appears to block strokes caused by a common irregular heartbeat, sealing off a spot where dangerous blood clots form, German and U.S. researchers reported Wednesday.
September 23, 2004 What to Do if Cardiac Arrest Happens: The collapse of a friend or relative can signal sudden cardiac arrest. Helping them means keeping a cool head. Here are some tips from various sources that may help save a life.
September 23, 2004 WHO Focuses on Heart Disease and Strokes: Health authorities worldwide must scale up efforts to curb global growth in heart disease and strokes, turning more attention to problems that start in childhood and are now hitting poor nations hardest, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
September 14, 2004 Clinton Benefits from Bypass Surgery: When Dr. Craig Smith called the quadruple bypass surgery he performed on former President Bill Clinton “relatively routine,” it was a sign of how far heart disease treatment has come in the last fifty years.
September 09, 2004 Antibiotic May Trigger Cardiac Deaths: Erythromycin, a widely used antibiotic long considered safe, dramatically increases the risk of cardiac arrest particularly when taken with some popular drugs for infections and high blood pressure, a major study found.
September 09, 2004 Clinton's Surgery Inspires Menu Change: As doctors monitor former President Bill Clinton's recovery from heart surgery in a New York hospital, his favorite barbecue joint is also consulting the medical community.
August 31, 2004 New Stent Helps to Prevent Strokes: The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a device designed to prevent strokes by clearing blocked carotid arteries, the main blood vessel leading to the brain.
August 31, 2004 New Test May Be Heart Attack Predictor: A simple test that scrutinizes bad cholesterol more closely may more reliably predict who is going to have a heart attack, new research indicates.
August 31, 2004 Study Examines Blood Pressure Pill: Scientists have unraveled one of the mysteries of precisely how a popular type of blood pressure pill protects against heart attacks, showing it not only lowers blood pressure but also directly improves the health of the artery walls.
August 30, 2004 Heart Attacks More Likely in Cold Weather: People with high blood pressure seem to be more vulnerable to heart attacks when the temperature drops, new research shows.
August 30, 2004 Study: Heart Scares May Not Stop Smokers: European smokers who have a heart scare are no more likely to quit the habit today than their counterparts were almost a decade ago, despite high profile anti-smoking campaigns and doctors' advice to stop, a new study finds.
August 30, 2004 Heart Disease Causes Seen Same Worldwide: The causes of heart disease are surprisingly the same in every region and race, and stress seems to play a more important role in heart attacks than previously recognized, a major new study has found.
August 29, 2004 Chocolate Said to Help Blood Vessels: There's more good news for chocolate lovers. Scientists have found that eating dark chocolate appears to improve the function of important cells lining the wall of blood vessels for at least three hours.
August 25, 2004 Louisiana Center Halts Heart Transplants: The Willis-Knighton/LSU Health Sciences Center is halting heart transplants at its Regional Heart Transplant Center until it fills the position of Dr. Mary Mancini, the center's only heart transplant surgeon.
August 25, 2004 Hospital Starts Angioplasty First Plan: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital now gives patients having a heart attack artery-clearing angioplasty initially, rather than clot-busting drugs, under a new program aimed at saving more lives.
August 23, 2004 Study: 1 in 3 Adults Has Hypertension: As Americans get older and fatter, the number of adults with high blood pressure has climbed to almost one in three over the past decade, putting more people at risk of a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure, government researchers said Monday.
August 13, 2004 Avastin Increases Risk of Heart Ailments: The Food and Drug Administration and Genentech have warned doctors that Avastin, used to treat colorectal cancer, increases patients' risk of suffering heart ailments - including chest pain, strokes, mini-strokes and heart attacks.
August 12, 2004 Cleveland Clinic Developing Heart Pumps: A biomedical engineering team at the Cleveland Clinic is developing an implantable electric heart pump that researchers hope will become part of a substitute for heart transplants.
August 10, 2004 Doctors Place Hope in Baby Pacemakers: Four-month-old Damaris Ochoa was near death, born with an enlarged heart that was quickly giving out. Dr. Edward Rhee attached a souped-up adult pacemaker to her tiny heart, and six months later Damaris is thriving.
August 10, 2004 Rural Okla. Areas to Get Defibrillators: State officials hope that more than 200 defibrillators being distributed to small Oklahoma communities will save lives.
August 04, 2004 Study: Heart-Failure Drug Caused Deaths: A drug used for congestive heart failure that was supposed to save lives also caused dozens of deaths from a side effect when doctors began prescribing it more widely, Canadian researchers report.
August 03, 2004 Fatty Plaque in Healthy Hearts Poses Risks: Researchers are using a new grant to focus on the threat from fatty plaque buildup in arteries to the health of their patients.
July 29, 2004 Firm Asks FDA to OK Home Defibrillators: Defibrillators, those machines that jump-start a stopped heart, may not need to be sold with a doctor's prescription, government advisers said Thursday.
July 28, 2004 Study: Heart Tumors May Be More Common: Scientists studying a rare genetic disorder have made a surprising discovery that helps explain why certain heart tumors develop and suggests they may be more common than had been believed.
July 26, 2004 New Cholesterol Drug May Make Splash: Vytorin, the first pill to lower cholesterol in two ways, should hit pharmacy shelves within weeks, the makers said Monday as they promised heavy marketing and a discounted price to battle the top-selling competition.
July 26, 2004 Study Aims to Sort Out Alcohol Usage: Alcohol is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the medical world: Drinking too much causes serious problems, while drinking a little may help many people's health.
July 24, 2004 FDA Approves Cholesterol Drug Vytorin: The Food and Drug Administration approved a new cholesterol-lowering drug called Vytorin, the drug's maker announced Friday.
July 21, 2004 Cholesterol Drug Maker Disputes Complaints: A drug company urged the government Wednesday to dismiss a petition to ban the new anti-cholesterol drug Crestor, arguing there's no evidence it is riskier than its competitors.
July 20, 2004 Study Says Statin Drugs Can Help Kids: Statin drugs, prescribed to millions of American adults to ward off heart attacks and strokes, can safely reduce cholesterol levels and even reverse narrowing of the arteries in children with inherited high cholesterol, a two-year Dutch study found.
July 19, 2004 Researchers: Flying OK for Heart Patients: Flying is not as risky for heart patients as doctors once thought, researchers say in a new study published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
July 19, 2004 Co. Wants Non-Prescription Defibrillators: Defibrillators that jump-start a stopped heart may save lives in airports and shopping malls, but few people keep them at home in case of collapse - even though that's where most cardiac arrests occur.
July 16, 2004 Groups Blast New Cholesterol Guidelines: Most of the heart disease experts who urged more people to take cholesterol-lowering drugs this week have made money from the companies selling those medicines.
July 15, 2004 Mississippi Evaluating Blacks’ Heart Study: Health officials are evaluating preliminary findings of a major heart study involving black people in Mississippi. "We will have discovered some things we didn't know before and will be in a position to help with preventative measures in the future," said Justin Vincent, senior operations manager of the Jackson Heart Study.
July 12, 2004 Heart Patients Urged to Slash Cholesterol: People who have recently had a heart attack should lower their "bad cholesterol" to rock-bottom levels, according to new guidelines issued Monday.
July 12, 2004 Manufacturing Changes of Bioabsorbable Drug-Eluting Stent force Guidant to Delay Filing for Regulatory Approval : Guidant Corporation announced it will be delaying introduction of its CHAMPION Drug Eluting Stent Program by 6 to 8 months.
July 06, 2004 Studies: New Blood Thinners No Better: A newer blood thinner is no better than the old standby at treating victims of heart attacks or chest pain, according to two major studies involving nearly 14,000 patients.
June 25, 2004 Heart-Healthy Eating For People With Diabetes: Diabetes increases your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. In fact, two out of three people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke. By making wise food choices, you can help to protect your heart and blood vessels.
June 17, 2004 Study: Liposuction Won't Improve Health: Liposuctioning your waistline can make you look just fabulous, but it won't necessarily make you healthier. In a study, obese women who dropped up to 23 pounds of belly fat by way of liposuction did not appear to lower their risk of diabetes or heart disease, both of which are fat-related.
June 10, 2004 Alcohol in Moderation May Not Raise Risk of Heart Failure in Heart Attack Survivors: A new study suggests that heart attack survivors with decreased left ventricular function who consumed 1 to 10 alcoholic beverages a week did not increase their risk of developing the condition over two years.
June 06, 2004 Anti-Cholesterol Pill May Ward Off Cancer: In a case of medical serendipity, the cholesterol-lowering pills called statins, already widely prescribed to prevent heart attacks, also appear to have an unintended but potentially substantial benefit of warding off cancer.
May 28, 2004 Court Upholds Denial of Stent Injunction: Medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific Corp. has won another legal battle in its patent dispute against a rival maker of drug-coated stents.
May 28, 2004 Hospital Fined; MD Lied for Transplants: A hospital was fined $18,000 on Friday because a doctor exaggerated the severity of some patients' conditions to move them up on the heart transplant waiting list.
May 27, 2004 Man Sues Atkins Diet Over Heart Problems: A businessman has sued the promoters of the Atkins Diet, saying the low-carb, high-fat meal plan clogged his arteries and nearly killed him.
May 27, 2004 Guidant May Delay U.S. OK for Heart Stent: Guidant Corp. said it might have to delay filing for a key government approval for a new type of heart stent that the company hopes will help it regain its competitive edge.
May 26, 2004 Ill Man Receives Artificial Heart in Ky.: Doctors implanted an AbioCor artificial heart in a critically ill patient this week at Jewish Hospital, officials said Wednesday. It was the second such surgery this month.
May 24, 2004 Man Who Quit Smoking Has Heart Transplant: The first person in the United States to get a revolutionary heart pump developed at the Hershey Medical Center has gotten a long-needed heart transplant after proving to doctors that he had stopped smoking, officials said.
May 19, 2004 Children’s Blood Pressure Checks Urged: New federal guidelines recommend checking children for possible heart and blood vessel damage if they have high blood pressure - a hazard increasing among the very young as Americans put on more and more weight.
May 14, 2004 Study: Breast-Feeding Helps Cholesterol: Giving support to advocates of breast-feeding, new research bolsters the theory that rapid growth in infancy, encouraged by enriched infant formulas, might increase the risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.
May 10, 2004 Discoveries Show How Obesity Kills: Research into the biology of fat is turning up some surprising new insights about how obesity kills. The weight of the evidence: It's the toxic mischief of the flesh itself.
May 07, 2004 Experts Comment on Angioplasty X-Rays: X-rays used during angioplasty can cause severe skin burns, and many cardiologists need more training in how to minimize radiation exposure to patients undergoing the procedures, experts warned on Friday.
May 07, 2004 Patient in Ky. Gets Artificial Heart: A self-contained artificial heart was implanted in a patient this week at a Kentucky hospital, the first such experimental surgery at the hospital in more than a year.
May 07, 2004 New Protein Predictor of Heart Failure: Doctors in Boston discovered that high levels of a protein called ST2, which is secreted from heart muscle during a heart attack, predicts an increased risk of death or heart failure in the weeks after hospitalization.
May 04, 2004 Hypertensive Blacks May Have Thick Hearts: Researchers say they may have found a new clue as to why blacks are at greater risk of dying from heart disease than whites. In the largest study of its kind, blacks with high blood pressure were found to have thicker hearts than whites with high blood pressure.
May 03, 2004 Smoking Ban Linked to Drop in Heart Attack Rate: Although a smoking ban in Helena, Montana, lasted only six months before it was overturned, the rate of heart attacks during that time dropped from seven a month to just three, according to a recent study.
April 28, 2004 Artery Thickening Found in Obese Children: New research shows obese children as young as 10-years-old have arteries resembling heavy smokers and face the prospect of coronary disease in early middle age.
April 27, 2004 Study Finds Seasons Affect Cholesterol: Cholesterol levels tend to rise in the winter and fall in the summer - variations that in some cases could affect treatment decisions, researchers say.
April 27, 2004 Co. Offers Guarantee on Hypertension Drug: Too many people with high blood pressure quit medication because they don't feel bad - even though the disease is silently attacking arteries and organs. Now a drug giant is offering an extra incentive to stick with it: a money-back guarantee.
April 23, 2004 Report: Heart Disease Is a Global Problem: Heart disease is a huge but largely overlooked problem for global health, striking working-age people in developing countries and hampering their economies, a new report concludes.
April 23, 2004 Woman Dies From Heart With Wrong Blood: A woman died Friday after receiving a transplanted heart that was the wrong blood group, hospital authorities said, and prosecutors opened an investigation into possible negligent homicide.
April 22, 2004 FDA Panel Cautiously Backs New Stent: Doctors may soon get a new way to clear blocked neck arteries: a stent that comes with a tiny filter to catch clots stirred up by the procedure before they float to the brain.
April 21, 2004 Study: New Bypass Technique Holds Promise: Bypass surgery done on a beating heart is just as effective as the conventional operation performed with a heart-lung machine, and less expensive, a study found.
April 20, 2004 RA and Lupus Increase Heart Attack Risk: Patients with inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus have an increased risk of suffering a heart attack, and that risk is even greater if they possess other risk factors—such as elevated lipid levels.
April 16, 2004 Medtronic Warns of Defibrillator Problems: A manufacturer of implanted heart defibrillators said Friday that some older models may not charge properly, which might make it fail to deliver a needed shock to the heart.
April 13, 2004 Fat Hormone May Cut Heart Attack Risk: Men with high levels of a hormone secreted by fat cells run a lower risk of a heart attack, according to a study that could lead to new ways to prevent or treat heart disease.
April 13, 2004 Girl Who Received Heart Pump Implant Dies: A 6-year-old Houston girl who became the first patient in the world to receive a DeBakey child heart pump has died.
April 12, 2004 N.Y. Getting CPR Kits in Public Places: Kits designed to encourage people to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on stricken strangers will soon be appearing in restaurants, bars, theaters and health clubs around New York.
April 12, 2004 Commercial Jets Must Have Defibrillators: Most commercial airplanes now must have cardiac equipment on board to help passengers who suffer heart attacks. The new Federal Aviation Administration rule, which affects about 2,600 airliners, went into effect Monday.
April 12, 2004 Manufacturer Argues Against Ephedra Ban: The manufacturer of a popular diet supplement containing ephedra urged a judge to block a nationwide ban on the herbal stimulant that was taking effect Monday, arguing that there is no proof it is dangerous if used properly.
April 12, 2004 Ban on Stimulant Ephedra to Begin: A government ban on sales of ephedra kicks in Monday unless a federal judge issues the dwindling industry a late reprieve.
April 08, 2004 Drug May Help Prevent Irregular Heartbeat: Scientists have discovered the molecular cause of a lethal type of irregular heartbeat and a drug that seems able to prevent it, a finding that might one day save hundreds of thousands of lives.
April 07, 2004 Study: Drug Lifts Good Cholesterol Level: An experimental drug can dramatically boost levels of HDL, the good cholesterol, potentially offering an entirely new way to prevent heart attacks.
April 02, 2004 Meditation Impacts Teen Blood Pressure: A study by the Medical College of Georgia found that two 15-minute meditation sessions each day - once at home, the other at school - helped teenage students lower their blood pressure over four months.
March 31, 2004 Study Questions Value of Inflammation Test: A large new study casts doubt on one of the hottest ideas in the field of heart disease - that inflammation levels in the bloodstream are a powerful predictor of heart attacks.
March 31, 2004 Babies Can Get Hearts With Wrong Blood: When Luke Cowdell was born, the nurses noticed he didn't have the pink hue of a healthy baby boy. Because of a heart defect, blood wasn't coursing to his hands and feet. When emergency surgery failed, the only option was a heart transplant.
March 30, 2004 Cardiac Surgery Riskier for Those Over 80 Years: Despite tremendous advancements in surgical skill and medical technology, people over the age of 80 who undergo cardiac surgery have more complications following surgery and spend more time in nursing homes than those under the age of 80.
March 23, 2004 Study: Drinking May Help Heart Patients: Drinking in moderation appears to reduce heart-related deaths in men with high blood pressure, new research suggests, challenging the belief among many doctors that alcohol should be off-limits to such patients.
March 18, 2004 FDA Panel Backs Artificial Heart: A type of artificial heart moved a step closer to the U.S. market Wednesday, but it's not a permanent replacement - just a temporary device to keep certain near-death patients alive long enough to receive a heart transplant.
March 18, 2004 Medicare Weighs Defibrillator Coverage: Medicare is considering expanding coverage for expensive cardiac defibrillators that are surgically implanted, following a government-funded study that showed the technology significantly reduced deaths in patients with even mild heart disease.
March 17, 2004 Questions Remain on Temporary Heart: A type of artificial heart under government scrutiny may keep some near-death patients alive long enough to receive transplants, but there are serious questions about its scientific backing and whom it might benefit, advisers said Wednesday.
March 17, 2004 FDA Advisers Consider Artificial Heart: A temporary artificial heart that promises to help keep certain patients alive long enough to receive a heart transplant must pass a key hurdle, as government advisers debate whether the device works well enough to sell.
March 12, 2004 New Device Helps Reshape Damaged Hearts: After five heart attacks and a stroke, Charles Neal's heart was so worn out that he couldn't walk across a room without feeling exhausted and short of breath. Constant fatigue caused by congestive heart failure eventually forced the 72-year-old business owner into early retirement.
March 10, 2004 Following Rules Helps After Heart Attacks: Getting doctors to follow their own rules for taking care of heart attack patients appears to pay off by saving more lives. Despite huge improvements in heart care over the past two decades, the flow of these advances into everyday care has often been slow and spotty.
March 09, 2004 Colorado’s High Altitude Hard on Hearts: Colorado's high-country altitudes are hard on tourists' hearts, killing a disproportionate number of visitors in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s with undetected cardiac conditions, several coroners say.
March 08, 2004 At-Home Device Would Check Blood Thinning: Three university scientists are developing a prototype device that they say will allow patients on blood thinning medication to take their own blood-clotting readings at home.
March 08, 2004 Study: Lower Cholesterol Helps Save Lives: Lowering heart attack victims' cholesterol to levels dramatically below current standards appears to be an important strategy for saving lives and preventing new heart problems, a major new study shows.
March 07, 2004 Drug-Coated Stents Aid Angioplasties: Tiny clogged arteries in the heart that have long bedeviled cardiologists' attempts at repair can now be kept flowing smoothly with new drug-coated stents that have already revolutionized treatment of larger vessels.
March 06, 2004 Folate in Food May Reduce Heart Disease: Adding the vitamin folate to flour, a practice begun in 1996 to prevent birth defects, also appears to have a striking effect against cardiovascular disease, preventing an estimated 48,000 deaths a year from strokes and heart attacks, a government study found.
March 05, 2004 New Children’s Heart Pump May Save Lives: A new, smaller version of a heart pump that has helped keep adults alive as they await transplants is now ready for use by children who need donor hearts.
March 05, 2004 Boston Scientific’s New Stent Is Approved: Boston Scientific Corp. said it would immediately launch a new stent that props open arteries and releases drugs into them after receiving final approval Thursday from federal regulators.
March 04, 2004 Abiocor Heart Implanted in 12th Patient: An Abiocor artificial heart was implanted in a 12th patient as part of a clinical trial, the device's manufacturer said Wednesday.
March 03, 2004 Estrogen Linked to Stroke, Dementia Risk: Long-term use of estrogen slightly increases women's risk of a stroke and possibly of dementia, the government said Tuesday, halting the nation's last major study of the hormone a year early because of the safety concern.
February 26, 2004 Boston Scientific Anticipates Taxus Stent Launch: Boston Scientific’s drug-coated stent, designed to keep arteries from reclogging after heart surgery, could be available for sale in the United States soon.
February 25, 2004 Study: Test Own Blood Pressure, Stop Meds: Letting patients measure their own blood pressure at home could help detect "white coat hypertension" - a high reading that occurs only in the doctor's office - and enable many people to get off medication, a study found.
February 24, 2004 J&J, Guidant to Co-Promote Heart Stents: Two competing developers of drug-coated stents used to prop open coronary arteries after surgery said Tuesday they had settled a patent dispute and will team up in the emerging $3-billion-a-year market.
February 12, 2004 Report Urges Americans to Reduce Sodium: A long-awaited nutrition report suggests lowering the maximum amount of salt Americans should allow themselves each day, even though the average person already consumes far more than is recommended.
February 11, 2004 Peptide May Help Predict Heart Disease: A protein produced by overstressed heart muscle appears to be a strong indicator of heart disease, offering doctors a quick and cheap test for diagnosing patients in the ER and a potential new way to spot heart trouble well before symptoms appear.
February 09, 2004 Depression and Fatal Heart Disease Linked: Depression in older women is strongly linked with a higher risk of dying from heart disease, according to research on more than 90,000 women.
February 06, 2004 Women’s Deadliest Foe: Only 8% of American women consider heart disease their greatest health risk, but nearly half will die from it. Cardiovascular disease is the #1 cause of death in American women, killing more than the next seven causes put together.
February 05, 2004 FDA About to Finalize Ephedra Ban: The Bush administration is putting the final touches on its planned ban of ephedra, moving to get the herbal stimulant off stores shelves by April.
February 04, 2004 Gene Could Lead to Heart-Healthy Foods: Scientists say they have bioengineered a gene from a tiny worm that could lead to juicy sirloins and gooey omelets that protect your arteries, not clog them.
February 03, 2004 New Campaign Urges Women To Go Red: While more women today are aware that they are at risk for heart disease, a very large number still do not realize that it is their number one killer.
January 31, 2004 Scientists Eye Pills to Unclog Arteries: Heart researchers may be closing in at last on a long-fantasized goal - treatments that flush out the nasty globs of gunk that clog the heart's plumbing.
January 27, 2004 Study Links Heart Attacks, Protein: Doctors might be able to gauge heart patients' risk of death or heart attack by measuring levels of a growth factor protein in their blood, a German study suggests.
January 22, 2004 Dole Urges Screening for Aneurysms: Bob Dole, former Senate majority leader talks about abdominal aortic aneurysm and the non-invasive treatment that saved his life.
January 21, 2004 AHA Recommends Emergency Response Plan for Schools: Cardiac arrest, falls, seizures and asthma attacks —schools should be prepared for all of them, according to the American Heart Association. The AHA has issued a statement recommending that schools develop detailed plans for medical emergencies.
January 16, 2004 Ky. Man Tells of Life With Heart Device: A new experimental heart device implanted in David Vensel's chest let him live through Christmas and play with his three great-grandchildren again.
January 13, 2004 Heart Stories: Victory Over Heart Disease: Heart disease: It's no longer just a man's problem. An estimated six million American women now have coronary artery disease-the life-threatening condition that blocks the vessels supplying oxygen and vital nutrients to the heart.
January 07, 2004 Hormone Rates Well Vs. Cardiac Arrest: A hormone called vasopressin is clearly better at saving the lives of patients whose hearts have stopped than the drug doctors have been using for the past 100 years, according to a new study.
January 05, 2004 The Elimination of Heart Attack -- Is it Possible? : Heart disease is the largest killer of Americans -- more people in the United States die from diseases of the heart and blood vessels than all other diseases combined.
January 01, 2004 Heart Bypass Surgery Examined in Study: Doing bypass surgery on a beating heart instead of using a heart-lung machine is far more likely to result in clogging of the new arteries within just a few months, a study found.
December 30, 2003 U.S. to Ban Dietary Supplement Ephedra: The Bush administration has decided to ban the herbal weight-loss supplement ephedra from the marketplace because of concerns about its effects on health, government officials said Tuesday.
December 29, 2003 Study Explores Options for Heart Failure Treatment: For many of the 550,000 patients who show up in doctors’ offices with heart failure each year the choice of treatment is clear, but for others the decision between medication versus medication plus surgery to manage the disease is not so simple.
December 16, 2003 Study Probes Air Pollution, Heart Disease: Air pollution in U.S. cities causes twice as many deaths from heart disease as it does from lung cancer and other respiratory ailments, a surprising new study suggests.
December 15, 2003 Doctor Says Weight Training Can Rip Aorta: Bill Linski was lying down watching television when he felt as if something in his chest was being ripped apart. The largest artery in Linski's body, the aorta, was splitting. It took a major operation to keep him together, and his surgeon thinks Linski's weight training triggered his brush with death.
December 07, 2003 Family, Doctors Find Heart Attack Gene: An Iowa family that took part in research that helped identify a gene linked directly to heart attacks has gone public.
December 04, 2003 Doctors Praise FCC-Banned Heart Device: Some doctors laud as a lifesaver a heart-monitoring device that faxes information directly to a physician's office from anywhere in the world. Federal regulators, however, worry the portable messenger could pose a danger to patients.
December 04, 2003 Study Fuels Debate Over Benefits of COX-2 Inhibitors in Coronary Artery Disease: In the largest study of its kind, Canadian researchers have found that a COX-2 inhibitor had neither favorable nor adverse affects on blood vessel function in people with coronary artery disease.
November 26, 2003 Heart Technique Reportedly Lessens Pain: A team of researchers working at Jewish Hospital helped develop a new technique for heart surgery that may result in less pain and shorter hospital stays for patients.
November 25, 2003 FDA Moves to Allay Concerns Over Stent: The government moved to ease concerns Tuesday about deaths associated with a popular new drug-coated heart stent, saying it now appears the Cypher stent is no riskier than its competitors.
November 25, 2003 Experimental Cholesterol Test More Specific Indicator of Heart Disease: Despite high levels of the "good" cholesterol known as HDL, some mysteriously go on to develop heart disease. But doctors at UCLA say they have developed a test to identify which patients have dysfunctional HDL and therefore a higher risk for heart attack.
November 20, 2003 Individualized Attention Improves Heart Failure Outcomes: Heart failure patients getting an hour of individualized education about diet and medications before they leave the hospital take better care of themselves at home—reducing their risk of rehospitalization or dying in the next six months, say researchers at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center.
November 11, 2003 Officials Want Restaurants to Label Menus with Nutrient Numbers: Last week, federal legislation was introduced that would force restaurants to label their menus with total fat, calories, and sodium content in each item. It’s an effort to help Americans slim down their waistlines and shape up their hearts.
November 10, 2003 Study: Bone Marrow May Aid Damaged Hearts: Doctors can boost the heart's pumping power after a heart attack by injecting bone marrow scavenged from the victim's own hip, the most rigorous test yet of the technique has shown.
November 09, 2003 Not All Heart Patients Get Standard Care: Doctors have known for a decade that drugs called ACE inhibitors are a cornerstone of care for congestive heart failure, yet a nationwide survey released Sunday shows that nearly one-third of patients are sent home from the hospital without this lifesaving treatment.
November 06, 2003 Withdrawing Aspirin can Lead to Heart Attack: New research shows that people with coronary artery disease who take a daily aspirin increase their risk of a heart attack within a week of stopping the medication. The study was conducted by researchers in France and was presented at a meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Orlando last week.
November 05, 2003 Test Achieves Cholesterol Breakthrough: An experimental treatment that seems to work like "liquid Drano" for clogged arteries stems from remarkably healthy villagers in northern Italy found to have paradoxically lousy cholesterol levels.
November 04, 2003 Heart Attack Warning Signs Are Studied: Unusual fatigue and sleeplessness might be early warning signs of a heart attack in women, a study suggests.
October 29, 2003 FDA Issues Warning on Stent Side Effect: More than 60 patients who received a popular new drug-coated heart stent have died, the government disclosed Wednesday - a surprising increase since the last health warning about the device just months ago.
October 22, 2003 Blood Pressure Drug Reduces Hospitalizations and Death due to Heart Failure: In one of the largest recent studies on heart failure, doctors have found that adding the blood pressure drug Atacand to a patient’s drug regimen can significantly reduce hospital admissions and cardiovascular death.
October 20, 2003 The Safest Aspirin Dose to Prevent a Heart Attack: Nearly 26 million Americans are on daily aspirin therapy to prevent a heart attack, and roughly half are taking the standard dose of 325 mg. But a new study shows that this may be more aspirin than is needed, and lowering the dose can decrease the risk of side-effects while still protecting the heart.
October 15, 2003 Boston Scientific Presents Results from TAXUS Stent Trials at TCT: Boston Scientific is awaiting approval by the FDA of its new drug-eluting stent, called TAXUS, now that results from a new study on patients with coronary artery disease have shown that it significantly reduces the need for repeat angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery within a year.
October 13, 2003 Americans Are Getting Fatter and Fatter: Americans are not just getting fatter, they are ballooning to extremely obese proportions at an alarming rate. The number of extremely obese American adults has quadrupled since the 1980s to about 4 million.
October 13, 2003 Low-Carb Diets Are Working, Study Says: The dietary establishment has long argued it's impossible, but a new study offers intriguing evidence for the idea that people on low-carbohydrate diets can actually eat more than folks on standard lowfat plans and still lose weight.