http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests that the types and levels of bacteria in the intestines may be used to predict a person's likelihood of having a heart attack, and that manipulating these organisms may help reduce heart attack risk. This discovery may lead to new diagnostic tests and therapies that physicians use to prevent and treat heart attacks. In addition, this research suggests that probiotics may be able to protect the heart in patients undergoing heart surgery and angioplasty. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-microbiome-disease-gut-bacteria-severity.html Medical research Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:00:02 EST news245640484 Contrary to current guidelines, Mayo Clinic researchers have found that angioplasties performed at centers without on-site cardiac surgery capabilities pose no increased risk for patient death or emergency bypass surgery. Results of the study were published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association and have implications for how care can be delivered to heart attack victims and for performance of angioplasties at centers without on-site surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-angioplasties-centers-on-site-surgery-safe.html Surgery Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:01 EST news243004490 Patients with life-threatening heart valve disease could be helped with alternative scanning techniques that provide greater insight into the condition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-scanning-strategy-heart-disease-treatments.html Cardiology Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:40:01 EST news242908239 Pneumonia — not a deep incision surgical site infection — is the most common serious infection after heart surgery, according to new research (Abstract 12247) presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-pneumonia-common-infection-heart-surgery.html Cardiology Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:10:58 EST news240574249 NIH-funded trial shows that therapy with bone-marrow derived cells does not improve heart function after six months; future clinical benefits still possible. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-stem-cell-therapy-heart-safe.html Cardiology Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:26:22 EST news240485170 A two-year study of patients in the landmark PARTNER trial, which compared transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients who have severe aortic stenosis and are not candidates for open heart surgery, confirm the one-year findings and support the role of TAVR as the standard of care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-results-partner-trial-cohort-year.html Cardiology Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:59:36 EST news240166739 (AP) -- Federal health officials have approved a first-of-a-kind artificial heart valve that can be implanted without major surgery, offering a new treatment option for patients who are too old or frail for the chest-cracking procedure currently used. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-fda-non-surgical-heart-valve.html Cardiology Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:40:14 EST news239474408 A type of medication known as angiotensin-receptor blockers could reduce risk of mortality in people with a heart disease called calcific aortic stenosis (AS) by 30 per cent over an eight-year period, Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Philippe Pibarot told delegates at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress. The condition is currently managed with open heart surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-duty-blood-pressure-drugs-revolutionize.html Cardiology Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:18:20 EST news238735085 Higher surgical costs for adult congenital heart patients is associated with higher rates of inpatient death compared to surgical admissions that incur lower costs, according to a study in Circulation: Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-adult-congenital-heart-patients-highest.html Cardiology Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:00:03 EST news238155739 Duke University Medical Center researchers have found a genetic variant that seems to be associated with lower five-year survival after a coronary artery bypass. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-gene-linked-death-coronary-bypass.html Cardiology Tue, 13 Sep 2011 09:23:52 EST news235124622 Babies and toddlers with congenital heart disease are at an increased risk of having harmful toxins in their blood, particularly following surgery, according to research by a team at Imperial College London. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-children-congenital-heart-disease-toxins.html Cardiology Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:38:55 EST news233573921 Enhancing the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), an energy carrying molecule in heart cells, may shorten the heart’s recovery time after a heart attack or heart surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-depressed-heart-function-stress-simple.html Cardiology Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:08:18 EST news230278079 Hospitals struggle to prevent the infections that complicate treatment for cancer, joint replacement, heart surgery and other conditions. Hospital-acquired infections are often resistant to multiple antibiotics, leading to approximately 100,000 deaths and more than $30 billion in additional health care costs yearly. New drugs are being developed to combat these infections, but resistance invariably emerges to these last-line drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-insight-drug-resistance-hospital-microbes.html Medical research Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:29:37 EST news229789767 (Medical Xpress) -- Heart experts at Johns Hopkins have begun testing a new device designed to replace blocked aortic valves in patients for whom traditional open-heart surgery is considered too risky, such as elderly patients and those with other serious medical conditions. The testing is part of a nationwide study to evaluate the device, which is deployed in a minimally invasive way. The first two Maryland patients to receive the device had it put in place by Johns Hopkins doctors on July 8, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-minimally-invasive-treatment-blocked-heart.html Cardiology Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:42:15 EST news229768915 Top-performing hospitals are typically ones headed by a medical doctor rather than a manager. That is the finding from a new study of what makes a good hospital. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-hospitals-physicians.html Health Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:21:45 EST news229177216 (Medical Xpress) -- An innovative approach for implanting a new aortic heart valve without open-heart surgery is being offered at Rush University Medical Center to patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at high-risk or not suitable candidates for open heart valve replacement surgery.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-option-patients-untreatable-non-perative-heart.html Cardiology Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:45:13 EST news228483896 An innovative approach for implanting a new aortic heart valve without open-heart surgery is being offered at Rush University Medical Center to patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at high-risk or not suitable candidates for open heart valve replacement surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-heart-valve-chest-option-non-operable.html Cardiology Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:12:45 EST news228143551 Black patients having a heart attack wait longer at hospitals than white patients to get advanced procedures that will restore blood flow to their hearts, according to a University of Michigan Health System study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-black-heart-patients-longer-advanced.html Cardiology Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:33:51 EST news227784801 Surgery death rates have dropped nationwide over the past decade, according to a University of Michigan Health System study that reveals cancer surgeries have seen the most dramatic improvement in safety. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-surgery-deaths-nationwide-high-risk-surgeries.html Health Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:10:01 EST news226169317 Tracey and Tim Sheehan had run out of options for their son, Ryan, who was born with a complex set of heart defects. His great arteries came from the wrong sides of the heart, his lower chambers were switched, there was a hole between his ventricles and he had a bad mitral valve. He had already undergone three open-heart surgeries to save his life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-recovery-complicated-surgery-teen-lot.html Cardiology Fri, 13 May 2011 09:10:07 EST news224496595 Don and Shawna Albright had almost lost hope. Eighteen weeks into Shawna’s pregnancy, an ultrasound showed deadly, unfixable problems with their baby girl’s heart. Two referrals and two echocardiograms later, doctors said there was no way the baby would survive her complex heart defects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-open-heart-surgeries-free-baby-bleak.html Cardiology Tue, 10 May 2011 10:47:31 EST news224243220 In fact, the studies estimate that only 4 percent of the powerful drug's use in U.S. hospitals from 2000 through 2008 was for treating hemophilia patients, while an enormous 96 percent involved cases of heart surgery, trauma, intracranial hemorrhages (bleeding in or near the brain) and a host of other surgical and medical problems. There are few studies examining these broader uses of the drug, known as recombinant factor 7a, and what little evidence does exist reveals a serious problem: The drug can increase the risk of blood clots, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-document-widespread-risky-clotting-drug.html Medications Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:34:09 EST news222366832 (PhysOrg.com) -- Veronica Smith, 26, of Sierra Vista was the first person in Arizona to receive a new pulmonary valve without having open-heart surgery. The procedure took place at University Medical Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-procedure-umc-pulmonary-valve-open-heart.html Other Mon, 18 Apr 2011 07:59:12 EST news222332327