http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arms or legs on one side of the body, confusion and trouble speaking are among the signs that someone is having a stroke. The sooner a stroke is recognized and treated, the greater the chance of recovery, experts say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-quickly.html Cardiology Mon, 13 May 2013 18:10:01 EST news287685901 (HealthDay)—For specific types of surgery, minimally invasive procedures correlate with significantly lower health plan spending and fewer days of absence from work, compared with standard surgery, according to a study published online March 20 in JAMA Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-impact-minimally-invasive-surgery.html Surgery Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:30:01 EST news283095583 (HealthDay)—For patients with preexisting occlusive vascular disease, the combination of niacin and the anti-flushing agent laropiprant provides no benefit and is associated with an increase in serious side effects, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, held from March 9 to 11 in San Francisco. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-acc-niacinlaropiprant-benefit-vascular-disease.html Cardiology Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:50:01 EST news282308529 A new and experimental anti-clotting drug, cangrelor, proved better than the commonly used clopidogrel and was significantly more effective at preventing blood clots in a large trial of patients who underwent coronary stent procedures. These data, from the phase III CHAMPION PHOENIX study, were presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-anti-clotting-drug-effective-current-treatment.html Cardiology Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:21:55 EST news282216106 Among patients with coronary artery disease referred for cardiovascular magnetic resonance and found to have regional myocardial wall thinning (of the heart muscle), limited scar burden was associated with improved contraction of the heart and reversal of wall thinning after revascularization, suggesting that myocardial thinning is potentially reversible, according to a study appearing in the March 6 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-thinning-heart-muscle-wall-patients.html Cardiology Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:00:01 EST news281710179 (HealthDay)—In patients undergoing primary angioplasty for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), diabetes is associated with worse long-term outcomes, including mortality, reinfarction, stent thrombosis, and target vessel revascularization (TVR), according to research published online Dec. 28 in Diabetes Care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-stemi-diabetes-linked-worse-long-term.html Diabetes Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:30:02 EST news278762991 (HealthDay)—Prehospital use of antiplatelet therapy, either aspirin/clopidogrel or dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), is associated with a lower incidence of major adverse cardiac events after saphenous vein graft (SVG) intervention, according to research published in the Jan. 15 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-prehospital-antiplatelets-graft-intervention-outcomes.html Cardiology Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:20:05 EST news278599665 (HealthDay)—For patients who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), mortality is associated with increases in mean platelet volume (MPV) over time following the procedure, according to a study published in the Jan. 15 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-platelet-volume-pci-tied-death.html Cardiology Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:50:01 EST news278341482 Smoking cessation even a year prior to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery does not fully normalize the changes smoking has made to the saphenous (leg) veins used for the surgery and may lead to later graft failure, according to a study published in the January 2013 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-affects-heart-surgery-outcome-year.html Health Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:05:57 EST news276347134 Some stroke patients may benefit from cerebral angioplasty and stent placement, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-brain-angioplasty-stents-safe-effective.html Cardiology Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:11 EST news274382382 Among the two available procedures for opening blocked arteries surrounding the heart, one appears to be safer than the other for dialysis patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The findings may help lead to better care for kidney failure patients with coronary heart disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-coronary-heart-disease-kidney-failure.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:29:29 EST news273432560 During embryonic development, the all-important coronary arteries arise from cells previously considered incapable of producing them, according to scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The research, carried out in mice and published today in the online edition of the journal Cell, may speed development of regenerative therapies for heart disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-coronary-arteries-advances-regenerative-medicine.html Cardiology Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:00:20 EST news272714268 The cause of heart attacks or strokes among some patients treated with anti-platelet drugs may be different than for patients who have undergone surgical procedures to restore blood flow, according to researchers at Duke Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-heart-patients-differently-anti-platelet-drugs.html Cardiology Mon, 05 Nov 2012 13:03:07 EST news271342977 A study found that second-generation drug-eluting stents are safe and effective in the treatment of left main coronary artery lesions. Results of the ISAR-LEFT MAIN 2 trial were presented at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-drug-eluting-stents-safe-effective-treatment.html Cardiology Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:10:02 EST news270305853 A simple-to-use risk score can identify low-risk patients following a severe heart attack (STEMI) and may provide an opportunity to employ early discharge strategies to reduce length of hospital stay and save hospital costs without compromising the safety of the patient, based on a study presented by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation on Oct. 23 at the 2012 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-simple-inexpensive-score-shorten-length.html Cardiology Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:57:01 EST news270201404 Researchers at Cedars-Sinai's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have found that a blood vessel-building gene boosts the ability of human bone marrow stem cells to sustain pancreatic recovery in a laboratory mouse model of insulin-dependent diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-bone-marrow-stem-cell-therapy.html Medical research Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:08:47 EST news268416504 (HealthDay)—In patients receiving drug-eluting stents, dual antiplatelet therapy can be safely discontinued during the first year, according to two studies published online Sept. 19 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-duration-antiplatelet-drugs-drug-eluting-stents.html Cardiology Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:30:02 EST news267382961 (HealthDay)—Use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) does not increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in the first year following acute coronary syndromes (ACS), according to research published in the Oct. 1 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-nicotine-doesnt-cardio-acs.html Cardiology Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:40:01 EST news267105522 (Medical Xpress)—Who should get stents, the tiny metal tubes designed to keep once-clogged coronary arteries open? Someone who is having a heart attack certainly should, and the life-prolonging benefits have been demonstrated in several studies. But results have been more ambiguous for patients who have "stable angina": chest pain that comes with exertion but goes away at rest. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-benefits-coronary-stents.html Cardiology Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:15:24 EST news266660103 For patients with stable coronary artery disease who have at least one narrowed blood vessel that compromises flow to the heart, medical therapy alone leads to a significantly higher risk of hospitalization and the urgent need for a coronary stent when compared with therapy that also includes initial placement of artery-opening stents. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-early-stents-medical-therapy-patients.html Cardiology Tue, 28 Aug 2012 04:12:56 EST news265345968 Data presented today from the prospective Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography (DeFACTO) study show that, when compared to standard coronary angiography (CT), the non-invasive assessment of fractional flow reserve by computed tomography (FFRct) provides a more accurate determination of which lesions require invasive evaluation.(1) http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-non-invasive-fractional-reserve-identification-flow-restricting.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:00:36 EST news265280425 Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and a common cause of long-term disability in the United States, but doctors have very few proven treatment methods. Now a new device that mechanically removes stroke-causing clots from the brain is being hailed as a game-changer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-clot-devices-successful-tools-acute.html Cardiology Sun, 26 Aug 2012 11:49:15 EST news265200531 The first trial to study patients with acute coronary syndrome who do not undergo coronary stenting or bypass surgery found no significant difference between two anti-clotting drugs – prasugrel and clopidogrel – in preventing the first occurrence of death, heart attack or stroke, according to Duke University Medical Center cardiologists. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-anti-clotting-drugs-yield-similar-results.html Cardiology Sun, 26 Aug 2012 04:05:08 EST news265172673 (HealthDay) -- The risk of stroke at 30 days is significantly higher in patients who undergo coronary revascularization with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery compared to those who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), according to research published in the Aug. 28 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-days-post-cabg-pci.html Cardiology Tue, 21 Aug 2012 04:16:46 EST news264741396 As thousands of Americans await a life-saving kidney or liver transplant, medical teams are paying close attention to another organ: their hearts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-hearts-kidney-liver-transplants.html Cardiology Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:51:50 EST news261305493 A new investigational platelet blocker reduces the rate of clotted arteries and the need for artery-opening revascularization procedures in the legs in people with peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to new research presented in the American Heart Association’s Emerging Science Series webinar. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-platelet-blocker-blood-clots-artery-opening.html Cardiology Thu, 21 Jun 2012 06:45:34 EST news259479926 Asymptomatic patients who undergo treadmill exercise echocardiography (ExE) after coronary revascularization may be identified as being at high risk but those patients do not appear to have more favorable outcomes with repeated revascularization, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. The article is part of the journal's Less is More series. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-asymptomatic-patients-coronary-revascularization.html Cardiology Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:02 EST news256208973 (HealthDay) -- For patients who undergo sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation, use of statin therapy is associated with a reduced risk of late target lesion revascularization (TLR), according to a study published in the May 15 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-post-ses-implantation-statins-late-revascularization.html Cardiology Sat, 12 May 2012 13:37:17 EST news256048624 The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) today announced the initiation of the HORIZONS-AMI II randomized trial, evaluating Promus Element platinum-chromium everolimus-eluting stents versus Omega bare-metal stents in patients with heart attack undergoing primary angioplasty with bivalirudin anticoagulation. The HORIZONS-AMI II trial will also investigate the chronic use of the antiplatelet medications prasugrel versus clopidogrel in patients free of major events at 30 days. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-cardiovascular-foundation-horizons-ami-ii-clinical.html Cardiology Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:58:18 EST news252060971 A new comparative effectiveness study found older adults with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) who underwent bypass surgery had better long-term survival rates than those who underwent a non-surgical procedure to improve blood flow to the heart muscle, also called revascularization. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-survival-advantage-bypass-surgery-non-surgical.html Cardiology Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:55:24 EST news252060917