Heart Disease Health Center

News and Features Related to Heart Disease

'On-Pump' Heart Surgery Gets High Marks

Nov. 4, 2009 -- Coronary artery bypass surgery performed on a beating heart without the aid of a heart-lung machine proved no more effective than traditional bypass surgery, a study comparing the two procedures shows. Roughly 1,000 patients treated at 18 Veterans Administration hospitals across the
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Heart Attacks on the Rise in Women

Oct. 26, 2009 -- The heart attack gap between men and women is narrowing in good and bad ways for women. Two new studies show that the number of heart attacks is rising among middle-aged women and falling among men, but the risk of death after a heart attack is improving more for women than for men.
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Hip Fracture, Cardiovascular Disease Linked

Oct. 20, 2009 -- A diagnosis of cardiovascular disease significantly increases the risk of future hip fracture, and there may be a genetic predisposition to both conditions, a new study shows. Ulf Sennerby, MD, of Uppsala University, Sweden, and colleagues studied records of 31,936 twins in the Swed
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2/3 of Heart Failure Patients Don't Get Major Drug

Oct. 20, 2009 -- More than two-thirds of patients hospitalized with serious heart failure aren't prescribed an aldosterone antagonist, a recommended therapy that increases the odds of survival. Aldosterone is a hormone that is released in the setting of heart failure. It causes salt and water retent
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No Link Between Bypass Surgery, Memory Loss

Oct.14, 2009 (Baltimore) -- Despite reports to the contrary, having bypass surgery to help your heart does not harm your brain, researchers report. In a new study, no support was found for a link between heart bypass surgery and memory loss or other mental declines. The underlying heart disease that
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His and Hers Heart Disease

Oct. 12, 2009 -- Women with heart disease may have worse outcomes than men do because treatment typically focuses on obstructive coronary artery disease -- which up to half of women may not have, according to a new review of the topic. For many women, the problem is not obstruction in major heart bl
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Knowledgeable Patients Ignore Chest Pain

Oct. 7, 2009 -- When it comes to seeking treatment for chest pain, education doesn't always mean people do the right thing. In a new study, heart patients who received counseling about heart attack symptoms and when to get treatment were no more likely to get immediate care than those who had not re
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Low-Cost Drugs Prevent Heart Attack, Stroke

Oct. 1, 2009 -- Giving two low-cost prescription drugs to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure in people with diabetes or heart disease -- along with encouraging them to take a daily aspirin -- can slash their risk of hospitalization for heart attack or stroke by 60%, according to a new study. ''If
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Full Moon Fails to Foil Surgery

Sept. 23, 2009 -- Full moon. Friday. After 5 p.m. Late summer. They say these are bad times to schedule surgery. And except for the full moon hex, there are good reasons to think so. Surgical teams may be tired at the end of the day, worn out at the end of the week, or less experienced when new resi
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Vigorous CPR Is Best for Cardiac Arrest

Sept. 16, 2009 -- Vigorous cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with more chest compressions on people with sudden cardiac arrest can improve the survival rate, a new study shows. "Chest compressions move blood with oxygen to the heart and the brain to save the brain and prepare the heart to start up
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