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Breast Cancer Radiation Linked to Raised Heart Risk

Posted 28 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Dec. 27 – Women who have breast cancer on the left side of the body and who are treated with radiation therapy have a higher risk of developing narrowing of the arteries that lead to the heart, researchers say. A new Swedish study found that the risk of having moderately narrowed coronary arteries was more than four times greater for women who had left-sided breast cancers treated with radiation compared to right-sided breast cancers treated with radiation. The odds were seven times higher for more severe narrowing on the left side versus the right, according to the study published in the Dec. 27 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. "We suggest that the coronary arteries be regarded as organs at risk in radiation therapy, and that every effort be made to avoid radiation dose to the coronary arteries," wrote study authors led by Dr. Greger Nilsson, of the ... Read more

Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Clogged Arteries Pose Different Dangers for Men, Women: Study

Posted 30 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30 – Not all clogged arteries are created equal, with women and men facing different heart risks even when they have the same amount of coronary plaque, a new study suggests. Analyzing the results of coronary CT angiographies – non-invasive tests that look for coronary artery blockages – in 480 patients with acute chest pain, scientists from the Medical University of South Carolina found that the risk of major cardiac events was significantly higher in women when they had a large amount of plaque buildup and extensive hardening of the arteries. On the other hand, men faced greater risks of heart attack or coronary bypass surgery when their arteries contained "non-calcified plaque," fatty deposits that accumulate deep in artery walls. While the study didn't specifically quantify the risks of each scenario for men and women, it may be valuable to physicians ordering ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Angioplasty Patients May Be at Risk for Rehospitalization

Posted 28 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Nov. 28 – About one in 10 people who have angioplasty to open blocked heart arteries will land back in the hospital within 30 days, a new study indicates. And a second, related report found that rehospitalization after angioplasty or stent placement remains a risk even three years after the procedure. Both studies, which appear in the Nov. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, highlight the need for better methods of identifying and treating high-risk individuals. In the first study of more than 15,000 people who had either a balloon angioplasty or stent placement to open up their blocked heart arteries, 9.4 percent of the patients were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. What's more, these individuals were more likely to die within a year when compared with their counterparts who were not readmitted to the hospital after their procedure. Females, individuals ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Drug-Coated Balloons Open Arteries Blocked by Narrowed Stents

Posted 16 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 – Balloons coated with a drug used to open blocked stents in heart arteries restore blood flow and also reduce bleeding in some high-risk patients, new research shows. Bare-metal stents, implanted to keep a blood vessel in the heart open during angioplasty, can narrow over time as scar tissue develops, which restricts blood flow and requires another procedure to widen the vessel, the researchers say. They were to present their findings Wednesday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. "Drug-eluting [emitting] balloons is, in my opinion, the therapy of choice in case of bare-metal stent restenosis and should be also considered in treating patients with stenosis of native coronary arteries, especially with a high risk of bleeding," said the lead researcher of both studies, Dr. Mariusz Zadura, a senior cardiologist at the Heart and Diabetes ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

High Doses of Statins Tied to Less Arterial Plaque in Study

Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – High doses of the cholesterol-lowering statins Crestor and Lipitor reduced the amount of plaque in coronary arteries and reversed the progression of coronary artery disease, new research shows. The study included 1,385 patients who took either 40 milligrams (mg) of Crestor (rosuvastatin) or 80 mg of Lipitor (atorvastatin) daily and were followed for two years. The major finding was that the amount of coronary artery plaque fell 0.99 percent with Lipitor and 1.22 percent with Crestor. The difference between the two drugs is not statistically significant, the researchers noted. "Regression of plaque has been the holy grail of heart disease treatment, and in this trial more than two-thirds of the patients had regression," lead researcher Dr. Stephen J. Nicholls, cardiovascular director of the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research in Ohio, said in an ... Read more

Related support groups: Lipitor, Crestor, Atorvastatin, Rosuvastatin, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Women Marathon Runners Have Less Artery Plaque: Study

Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – Elite female marathon runners have less coronary artery plaque than their male counterparts and sedentary women, a new study finds. This type of plaque can lead to coronary artery disease, which is the most common type of heart disease and the leading cause of death in the United States. A recent Minneapolis Heart Institute study found that elite male marathoner runners may have more coronary artery plaque than men who aren't physically active, so the investigators decided to see if the same was true in women. They used coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) scans to examine coronary artery plaque in 25 female marathoners and 28 age-matched sedentary women. The runners had participated in a minimum of one marathon a year for 10 consecutive years. A total of 28 coronary plaque lesions were identified in 14 of the sedentary women and in five of the ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Scientists ID More Genes Linked to Heart Disease

Posted 23 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 23 – Researchers have identified five new genes that play a role in people's risk for heart attack and coronary artery disease – the most common cause of premature death and disability in the world, according to a new study. The international consortium said their discovery could help scientists predict coronary artery disease (CAD) and develop new treatments for the condition. In conducting the study, published online Sept. 22 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, the researchers examined more than 49,000 genetic variants in nearly 15,600 cases of CAD along with slightly fewer than 35,000 controls, which included people of European descent and South Asian origin. The investigators also duplicated their findings in 17,121 more cases of the disease and 40,473 controls. "This is one of the first genetic studies of CAD to include a significant proportion of subjects of ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Heart Attack, Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

New Drug Boosts 'Good' Cholesterol in Study Patients

Posted 13 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Sept. 13 – A treatment currently being studied may prevent progression of atherosclerosis, a condition caused by the build-up of plaque in artery walls that can lead to heart attack, according to new research. In conducting the study, published in the Sept. 12 issue of The Lancet, researchers followed 130 patients with atherosclerosis who were randomly assigned to be treated with either the experimental heart drug dalcetrapib, or an inactive placebo over the course of two years. In the double-blind study, neither the researchers nor the patients knew who was taking the heart drug and who was taking the placebo. While statin drugs are commonly used to lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol to reduce the risk of coronary artery disease, dalcetrapib raises HDL or "good" cholesterol in order to reduce the risk, the researchers explained. To determine the efficacy of dalcetrapib, the ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Attack, Myocardial Infarction, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Atherosclerosis

Family Heart Disease Risk Linked to Genes, Not Lifestyle

Posted 30 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Aug. 30 – Genes affect hereditary coronary heart disease risk but family lifestyle does not, according to a new study. While it's long been known that hereditary factors influence this risk, it hasn't been clear whether this is due to genes or unhealthy lifestyle in the family, the Swedish researchers said. In order to answer that question, the investigators examined the health records of 80,214 adopted men and women in Sweden who were born in 1932 or later and developed coronary heart disease between 1973 and 2008. The researchers also studied the participants' adoptive and biological parents. Adopted people with at least one biological parent with coronary heart disease had a 40 to 60 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease than people in a control group. There was no increased risk for people with one or two adoptive parents who had coronary heart disease, the ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Study Supports Selective Use of Drug-Coated Stents

Posted 15 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Aug. 15 – Limiting the use of expensive drug-eluting (coated) stents does not increase patients' risk of heart attack or death, but it can save the U.S. health care system hundreds of millions of dollars a year, a new study suggests. A stent is a mesh tube used to keep an artery open after a procedure to unblock clogged or narrowed arteries (angioplasty). A drug-eluting stent is coated with medicine to prevent blood clots. Research has shown that drug-eluting stents are better than bare-metal stents at preventing re-narrowing of arteries, according to background information in the study. The current study examined the effects of selective use of drug-eluting stents, which began in the United States in 2007. The researchers analyzed data from 10,144 patients who underwent angioplasty at 55 medical centers across the nation between 2004 and 2007. The use of drug-eluting stents ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Medical Groups Update Heart, Blood Pressure Care Guidelines

Posted 13 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 13 – Patient-focused outcomes are emphasized in 10 updated performance measures for people with coronary artery disease and hypertension that were released Monday by a trio of major U.S. medical groups. "These measures are primarily intended for the use of individual practitioners and group practices in their efforts to improve the care of patients with hypertension and those with stable coronary disease," Dr. Joseph Drozda Jr., director of outcomes research at Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, Mo., and co-chairman of the writing committee for the new measures, said in an American College of Cardiology news release. "By adhering to the specifications called for in this measures set, entities operating such accountability programs can be assured of having high quality and clinically meaningful measures," he added. The measures were released by the American ... Read more

Related support groups: High Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Scans of Egyptian Mummies Show Heart Disease Was Ancient Malady

Posted 17 May 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 17 – Modern technology reveals that ancient Egyptians, including a princess of noble blood, suffered from coronary artery disease, according to a new report. The Horus study, which used whole-body computerized tomography (CT) scanning to visualize the arteries of 52 ancient Egyptian mummies, found that atherosclerosis – plaque build-up in the arteries – was common among a group of middle-age and older ancient Egyptians. "Overall, it was striking how much atherosclerosis we found," Dr. Gregory S. Thomas, director of nuclear cardiology education at the University of California, Irvine, and co-principal investigator of the study, said in a news release from the European Society of Cardiology. "We think of atherosclerosis as a disease of modern lifestyle, but it's clear that it also existed 3,500 years ago," he said. "Our findings certainly call into question the perception ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Drug Therapy for Artery Disease Underused, Study Says

Posted 10 May 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 10 – Fewer than 50 percent of people scheduled to have a stent placed in one of their coronary arteries for stable coronary artery disease received so-called optimal medical therapy – drug therapy, such as statins – before the procedure, according to new research. This finding comes despite previous research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine four years ago, that found that optimal medical therapy was similarly effective to the stent procedure in preventing future cardiac problems. That study was dubbed the COURAGE trial, and it included heart centers from across the United States. The study cost $33.5 million to conduct, and researchers hoped their findings would prompt more doctors to try medical therapy first in people with stable heart disease. "The data shows that results are similar whether you treat with a stent or with medications in those with ... Read more

Related support groups: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

High Lipoprotein Levels Can Cause Heart Disease

Posted 25 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 23 – A genetic study proves that high blood levels of the fat-carrying molecule called lipoprotein(a) can cause heart disease. "The case for lipoprotein(a) as a direct cause of coronary artery disease is now firm," said Martin Farrall, a professor of cardiovascular genetics at the University of Oxford in England and senior author of a report in the Dec. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Elevated blood levels of LPA, as it is often abbreviated, have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems for decades, but the evidence has not been definitive. So while an elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol level remains the most clearly established indicator of coronary risk, "our paper, by genetic research, shows that LPA plays an important role as well," Farrall said. "Our results will not perhaps surprise some ... Read more

Related support groups: Heart Disease, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Fish Oil Supplements Don't Help Depressed Heart Patients

Posted 2 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Oct. 20 – In a surprise and not very welcome finding, researchers report that fish oil supplements do not ease depression in individuals who suffer from both depression and coronary heart disease. Participants in the study, which is published in the Oct. 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, were also taking the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft). Some studies have suggested that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish might enhance the effects of Zoloft. "Unfortunately, it's not where we wanted to be. We were kind of disappointed, to say the least," said study author Robert M. Carney, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings leave physicians still facing the problem of how to boost depression recovery rates so as to also lower cardiovascular risk. The question is a pressing one, given that depression ... Read more

Related support groups: Depression, Heart Disease, Fish Oils, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

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