Cardiology

A 10-year-old girl was brought to her primary care provider by her mother because she complained of chest pain earlier that morning. She also reported abdominal pain and nausea.

According to the Electronic Blood Pressure (e-BP) study, reported in the June 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association ...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, stroke, and other CVDs, continues to be the leading cause of mortality among both men and women. For women, however, increasing awareness and understanding of how CVD affects them remains a challenge.

SORT OUT II trial results support our current understanding of drug-eluting stent use: (1) there is no difference in efficacy or safety among different drug-eluting stents; (2) stent thrombosis rates are highest in the first month after stent implantation; and (3) late stent thrombosis rates are low and not influenced by discontinuation of clopidogrel therapy at 12 months.

The SORT OUT II trial showed that the first generation of drug-eluting stents, Cypher® and Taxus®, exhibit similar efficacy and safety when used for percutaneous coronary intervention in everyday practice, including in a high proportion of off-label situations.

Atrial fibrillation affects over 2.2 million Americans and is estimated to affect up to 10 million by 2050.

We have seen a dramatic increase in use of ICDs along with expanded indications for these devices.

The benefits of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) have been shown in randomized clinical trials. The factors that affect the risk–benefit ratio in a community setting, however, have not been evaluated.

According to the World Health Organization,about 30% of deaths worldwide result from cardiovascular diseases, many of which may be preventable by modifying or treating risk factors, such as unhealthy diet, smoking, and diabetes.

Cardiovascular risk factors vary somewhat for each specific atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease event; however, there is sufficient commonality to enable crafting of a global CVD risk-assessment instrument that accurately predicts total CVD risk and the risk of its individual components.

While most patients are concerned about their risk for myocardial infarction, it is important to remember that the risk factors for death from all cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and coronary artery disease, are similar.

According to a VentureBeat article, the world�s largest hacker convention, have �figured out how to turn off someone�s pacemaker via remote control.�

California has passed a law banning trans fats in restaurants, bakeries, delicatessens, cafeterias, and other businesses classified as “food facilities.”

Among patients with atrial fibrillation, amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone) is the most useful drug for the preservation of sinus rhythm.1-3 Although amiodarone carries a well-known risk of potentially serious noncardiac toxicities, perhaps less well recognized is its major cardiovascular side effect of bradycardia.

Methadone HCI (Diskets, Dolophine, Methadose) is a synthetic opioid that has been used widely in the United States for the management of heroin addiction Treatment of opioid dependence has been shifting gradually from the older US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection program, ...

There is some debate about whether the risk of cardiovascular events associated with low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels is attenuated by very low low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (< 60 mg/dL), which can be obtained with statins and combination therapy.

Dr. Fagard from Belgium addresses an interesting conundrum in the treatment of high blood pressure (BP): can there be too much of a good thing?

From the Hypertension and Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Unit, Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

With all the content aggregators and other resources online that point users toward useful websites, it's hard to fathom how a site as well conceived and valuable as dave.md could remain so relatively unknown.

An 89-year-old woman with a history of hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and a transient ischemic attack 7 years earlier ...

This propensity-matched study, in which patients with and without diabetes were well balanced in all measured baseline characteristics, including traditional risk factors and comorbidities, found that diabetes was associated with increased mortality and hospitalization in ambulatory patients who had chronic, mild-to-moderate heart failure and were receiving angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. These findings also highlight the sex- and age-related variations in the effect of diabetes in these patients.

A recent meta-analysis of 31 randomized controlled trials with 4500 participants showed that metformin treatment significantly decreased weight, improved dyslipidemia and insulin resistance, and reduced the incidence of new-onset diabetes by 40%, with beneficial effects maintained over time. Further studies will show whether the metabolic improvements achieved with metformin treatment will ultimately result in a decrease in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

According to a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, toenails can help predict heart disease risk in female smokers.

Cardiovascular disease accounts for 65 percent of patient deaths among people with type 2 diabetes.