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  1. #21
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    Spot the warning signs of Women and heart diseases...

    Women and heart diseases: Spot the warning signs
    Friday 29th September, 2017: With the new numbers suggesting that close to 50% women in India are at the risk of heart ailments, today, on World Heart Day, take a moment to think about your ticker.
    A survey conducted by the American Heart Association (AHA) found that women didn't consider heart disease as a major cause of concern, in spite of the condition being the no.1 killer in women. Typically, women think of heart disease as a potential threat for males and end up ignoring many symptoms of the same in themselves. The main reason for this is a lack of awareness about the symptoms and the causes of cardiovascular disorders. As per data from The Heart Foundation, 90% women are unaware about high cholesterol being a threat to their hearts. Several women end up blaming their physicians for their limited knowledge of possible risks, which makes them mistake the symptoms of heart-related disorders for a panic disorder or a stress attack.

    In fact, almost a third of female heart patients experience chest pain in the month before they have a heart attack. Sadly, they fail to understand the symptoms and do not take necessary precautions. To empower women with the right medical knowledge and help them take corrective steps when the warning signs of a heart attack become apparent, Mahesh Jayaraman, Medical Researcher, Therapist, Health Advisor and Co-founder of health platform Sepalika.com, and Dr Manthan Mehta, Specialty Medical Officer, Dept of Pharmacology, TNMC and Nair Hospital, have listed down some points for ANI.


    5 warning signs of a heart attack in women:

    1. Is fatigue bothering you? The AHA survey revealed that fatigue is the biggest signal of an oncoming heart issue amongst women. Prior to a heart attack, 70% women experienced weakness even without exerting themselves. While fatigue can often be ignored as a common part of the ageing process, unexplained fatigue can be a warning sign of a heart attack. Fatigue that does not go away even after adequate rest and sleep needs to be addressed. What's the connection between fatigue and heart attack? Well, one of the causes of fatigue is the heart not pumping enough blood. As a result, the cells do not get sufficient oxygen to burn fuel and generate energy.

    2. Unable to sleep properly? Ever wondered why your sleep is interrupted often? While work-related issues or other issues can often result in sleep disturbances, if there are no such apparent reasons then you cannot rule out the risk of a cardiovascular disease. A weak heart decreases oxygen levels in the body, which may lead to insomnia or unexplained bouts of waking up at night.

    3. Trouble in breathing? If you often have to exert more effort than usual while breathing, then it could be a sign of a heart trouble. Women who are overweight and do not indulge in any physical activities may experience shortness of breath even while lying down or walking. If you're experiencing such symptoms, get yourself tested to ensure your heart is healthy.

    4. Experiencing severe stomach pain? A heart attack may not always start with chest pain; it can start with a pain in the upper abdomen as well. The pain can worsen and spread up to your left shoulder and arm. A sharp pain in the stomach could be a sign of an impending heart attack.

    5. Is it anxiety that's bothering you? Anxiety attacks can occur unexpectedly, and can leave you shaken. The symptoms you may experience are shortness of breath, sweating, numbness of hands and feet, which could be indicators of an unknown heart problem. Such bouts of anxiety can occur due to improper distribution of oxygen in the body, especially to the brain, and must not be ignored.

    Risk factors of heart attack in women: Some of the traditional risk factors for heart disease amongst women are high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension and menopause, due to lower levels of estrogens, stress, depression and obesity. These factors have a bigger role in the development of heart diseases in women as compared to men. Also, women who smoke are at a higher risk of getting heart disease 19 years sooner than non-smokers. In India, both men and women are at an equal risk of heart attacks. However, women tend to disregard the warnings as age-related problems. This tendency needs to be curbed through proper education and awareness building. Women need to understand that they are as prone to heart disease as their husbands, fathers or brothers. Any time a warning sign crops up, they must take it seriously and visit the appropriate medical practitioner in time.

    http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...-warning-signs
    See also:

    Diabetes induced heart diseases see steady rise
    Friday 29th September, 2017: In order to spread awareness about multiple heart problems, September 29 is celebrated as World Heart Day worldwide every year.
    Young people require more education on how they can improve their heart health. Efforts are being made to foster everyone about the small changes that can make a powerful difference and make the heart healthy. A survey conducted by Indus Health Plus indicates that there has been a three-fold rise in cardiovascular disease (CVD) among Delhiites compared to last three years. The risk of heart attack and stroke increases if the person is suffering from diabetes and obesity. 40% of males and 38% women from the age group of 40-50 years have been tested positive for diabetes which has increased their chances of heart ailments. Out of these, 20% males and 22% females are obese too.


    Amol Naikawadi, Preventive Healthcare Specialist Indus Health Plus says, "In Delhi young working women between the age group of 25 - 35 years are prone to heart diseases due to lack of estrogen. Prolonged intake of painkillers, hormonal and contraceptive pills can cause clotting of blood in the arteries. This coupled with unhealthy lifestyle and stress increases the risk of heart diseases. Day-to-day lifestyle modifications and changes like jogging, stair climbing, healthy eating, playing anoutdoor game, etc. help in reducing the risk of heart ailments".

    Key findings from the survey:

    More than 70% of urban males and 69% of rural men from the age group of 35-55 years are under the risk of heart diseases due to hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. 60% of urban as well as rural women between 25-40 years age group were ignorant of heart diseases. More than 50% of corporate employees (both men women) are suffering because of hypertension and heart ailments. Air pollution (caused by industries, vehicles, etc.) is at an all-time high in Delhi which is leading to heart diseases. Children and elderly in urban areas are the most affected with this condition. Young population aged 30 years are at higher risk of heart diseases, due to unhealthy lifestyles, stress, smoking, and drinking. 45% of urban and 43% of rural people were reported to have high cholesterol.

    Intake of junk food, ready-to-eat meals are preferred along with lack of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains intake increases the bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body, which can block the blood vessels. Pollution, smoking, high-stress level and sedentary lifestyles are the factors that have led to an increase in the burden of cardiovascular diseases in Delhi. In times when such diseases are on the rise, it becomes important to understand the risk factors and work in the direction to eradicate them especially, if one has a family history of heart diseases.

    http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...ee-steady-rise
    Related...

    Ill-effects of sedentary lifestyle on cardiovascular system
    Friday 29th September, 2017: Cardiovascular disease is expected to cause 25 million deaths in the entire world in 2020. In India, cardiovascular disorders are the cause of 25 per cent deaths.
    Heart disease is not just an ailment restricted to the urban and economically strong; it also affects the rural and underprivileged population. There are many risk factors that may lead to heart disease, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and metabolic syndrome. The developing societies like India have to face an unfavourable setting characterized by changes in lifestyle, an increase in the consumption of foods with a high caloric density, a reduction of physical activity, and an increase in tobacco use. "Sedentary behaviours include sitting, reclining, or lying down while awake as well as reading, watching television or working on the computer for more than 10 hours. These "inactive activities" mean energy expenditure is less than or equal to 1.5 metabolic equivalents, or METs," says Dr Ram Anil Raj, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Gleneagles Global Hospitals, Bangalore.


    Leading a sedentary lifestyle can increase risk of dying from heart disease by 52 percent for men and 28 percent for women. In 2010 the World Health Organization estimated that 3.2 million people die each year due to the failure to engage in physical activity, which constitutes the fourth most important risk factor leading to death in the entire world. Sedentary behaviour is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, impaired insulin sensitivity (linked with diabetes) and an overall higher risk of death from any cause. Despite the health-promoting effects associated with regular physical exercise, physical inactivity not only continues to be a common problem, but also is becoming increasingly widespread.

    Aerobic cardiovascular exercise is best in heart disease prevention. It trains the heart to become more efficient and trains the body to better utilize oxygen. Cardiovascular exercise lowers blood pressure and reduces total cholesterol, two problems associated with heart disease. It increases insulin sensitivity, helping to prevent diabetes and other metabolic conditions. Obesity is often a precursor to heart disease, and cardiovascular exercise is the best method for weight loss. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends engaging in cardiovascular exercise on most days of the week for a minimum of 30 minutes. Methods of exercise include walking, jogging, cycling and swimming. Exercise increases circulation, helps clear arteries, lubricates joints and promotes well-being. It is important to adopt an exercise regimen before signs of heart disease occur and make exercise a lifestyle habit.

    http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...ascular-system
    Last edited by waltky; 09-29-2017 at 05:31 AM.

  2. #22
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    Treatments are evolving rapidly to improve clinical outcomes and help patients live an active and productive life ...

    Managing heart disease through quality stents
    Saturday 14th October, 2017: With cardiovascular diseases becoming new epidemic in the country, affecting younger and older population alike, treatment modalities are evolving rapidly to improve clinical outcomes and help patients live an active and productive life post-treatment
    Responsible for 25% of all deaths in the country, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have also become a leading cause of premature mortality in terms of years of life lost. From the year 1990 to 2010, early deaths, because of CVD in India, have reportedly increased by a staggering 59%. By getting affected with heart conditions in working age, people not only lose out their productive years but also add to the overall economic burden of the disease.

    According to a paper, published in the Journal of Harvard School of Public health, cardiovascular disease deaths alone give India the "highest loss in potentially productive years of life" of all countries in the world. "Compounded with a steep rise in the number of young patients, in Rajasthan itself, CVD contributes to approximately 11 percent of the disease burden. I get around 15 percent heart patients below 45 years of age in a month. The major reasons contributing to the early onset of the disease are work-related stress, unhealthy lifestyle, family history, diabetes, and habits like smoking, drinking and lack of sleep. Fortunately, the continuous advancement in technology is changing the way cardiovascular diseases are diagnosed early and treated effectively. But the key to it lies in early recognition of the susceptible individuals and its prevention," says Dr. Sanjeeb Roy, Director, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Jaipur.

    Along with these risk factors, the lack of preventive measures at the appropriate time sometimes leads to an elevated risk of having a cardiac disease. In this case, the patient might require undergoing a surgical procedure like stenting to treat the complication. The stent is placed inside the artery through a process called coronary angioplasty, also known as Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI). While the type of stent used depends upon individual patient conditions, the most important thing to be kept in mind when choosing a stent is the quality of stent.

    A stent, once implanted, remains in the body forever and hence, the quality of the device should be given prime importance. A bad quality stent might result in stent thrombosis and restenosis and can be fatal for the patient in some cases. This is why cardiologists always emphasize on using the highest quality stent. "With other innovations in cardiac technologies, advances are also taking place in the sphere of devices. A clear example of this is the consistent evolution in stent technology, leading to the development of newer generation stents. However, whichever stents are chosen for placement, it is important to understand that quality plays a vital role in improvising overall patient outcomes. Preference should be given to a stent which has been backed by significant clinical data and has gone through stringent approval norms. In this regard, US FDA approved drug-eluting stents (DES) have been proven to be the most effective," says Dr. Prakash Chandwani, Director, Heart General Hospital, Jaipur. Thus, better quality stent technologies further help to improve the clinical outcomes and optimize the PCI.

    http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...quality-stents

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    You want to have clean pipes. Eat a full clove of raw garlic a day. Remember to chew fresh mint as well or no one may love and kiss on you.
    " I'm old-fashioned. I like two sexes! And another thing, all of a sudden I don't like being married to what is known as a 'new woman'. I want a wife, not a competitor. Competitor! Competitor!" - Spencer Tracy in 'Adam's Rib' (1949)

    Art thou every retard among us related to thine uncle or mistress by way of moral or illegitimate rendezvous? Thus, we are one side of the other's coin by luck or pluck. - Jimmyz

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    Uncle Ferd says, "Yeah - is fun exercise...

    Sex unlikely to cause cardiac arrest, study finds
    Mon, 13 Nov 2017 - Sudden cardiac arrest is linked to sexual activity far more often in men than women, a study finds.
    Sudden cardiac arrest is associated with sexual activity far more often in men than women, research suggests. But sex is a rare trigger for sudden cardiac arrest. Only 34 out of the 4,557 cardiac arrests examined occurred during or within one hour of sexual intercourse and 32 of those affected were men. Sumeet Chugh, of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, said his study is the first to evaluate sexual activity as a potential trigger of cardiac arrest. The research was presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association.

    A cardiac arrest happens when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating. It causes someone to fall unconscious and stop breathing and unless treated with CPR, it is fatal. This differs from a heart attack, where blood flow to the heart is blocked. It is known that sexual activity can trigger heart attacks, but the the link with cardiac arrest was previously unknown.


    Couples feet in bed

    Cardiac arrest facts

    * Almost 90% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests die
    * Every minute without cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or defibrillation reduces someone's survival chances by 10%
    * CPR, especially if performed in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest, can double or triple a person's chance of survival
    * During CPR, you should push on the chest at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. The beat of the Bees Gees' hit Stayin' Alive is a perfect match for this

    Source: American Heart Association

    Dr Chugh and his colleagues in California examined hospital records on cases of cardiac arrest in adults between 2002 and 2015 in Portland, Oregon. Sexual activity was associated in fewer than 1% of the cases. The vast majority were male and were more likely to be middle-aged, African-American and have a history of cardiovascular disease. The study also found CPR was performed in only one-third of the cases, despite them being witnessed by a partner.

    Dr Chugh said: "These findings highlight the importance of continued efforts to educate the public on the importance of bystander CPR for sudden cardiac arrest, irrespective of the circumstance." He said it shows the need for people to be educated about how to administer CPR. Another study presented at the conference showed children as young as six can learn it. After a heart attack or surgery, the British Heart Foundation suggests patients should typically wait four to six weeks before resuming sexual activity.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41929167

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    Adults with a childhood history of heart defects face problems...

    Children Who Survive Congenital Heart Defects Can Face New Problems As Adults
    January 28, 2018 - A few weeks ago, our family gathered for a meeting that we hope will save my sister's life. Our goal was to demonstrate to a hospital social worker that we could take care of her should she get a heart transplant.
    My sister Sara is now 50. (NPR isn't using her last name to protect her medical privacy.) For her to get on the transplant list, her anatomy needed to be suitable and her antibody levels low despite prior surgeries. She had to show that she could withstand the grueling transplant process; that she could consistently take her anti-rejection medications; didn't abuse drugs or alcohol; and had a stable home life. A heart transplant costs about $1.4 million, according to data from the actuarial firm Milliman. And there aren't enough hearts to go around. Sara had to show that she could pay for three months of living near the hospital for the daily checkups and weekly heart biopsies, as well as the anti-rejection medications she would need daily for the rest of her life. My sister has the most gallant heart of anybody I know. But her patched up heart has been slowly failing over the last three to four years.

    She was born a "blue baby" in 1967 with transposition of the great arteries, a relatively common but serious heart defect, which deprived her body of oxygenated blood. In a procedure called a Blalock-Taussig shunt, her doctors made a small hole in her heart to allow oxygenated blood to mix with the other blood in her body. At that point, that was the only option. The doctors told our mother to keep her alive until they improved surgical techniques enough to operate again. She was a spindly toddler with purple lips and fingertips. During those years, she couldn't do much, and we would pull her around in a red Radio Flyer wagon. In 1972, when Sara was a kindergartner, surgeons performed a Mustard procedure, attempting to reroute her blood flow. It was an incomplete fix, but her lips and fingers turned pink. Of the three cardiac surgeries performed in the hospital that week, she was the only child to survive.


    Sara's nephew and Wendy's son Benny painted this image of a heart that hangs in the author's home.

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 percent of children, about 40,000 babies, are born with congenital heart defects a year in the U.S., ranging from simple conditions that don't even need surgery to life-threatening problems like my sister's. "It is the No. 1 birth defect," says Dr. Michael Landzberg, director of the Boston Adult Congenital Heart program. Out of those children with a congenital heart problem, an estimated 5 to 7 percent — about 1,250 babies a year — are born with some variation of transposition, like my sister. According to Landzberg, because of improved medical care, by the 1980s and 1990s more children with serious congenital heart disease were surviving to adulthood. Programs sprouted at major medical centers to provide specialized care and train doctors to deal with this growing population with complex medical needs, who also needed to deal with finding insurance and employment, having children or simply finding a swimsuit that hid the surgical scars.

    A few years ago, I had the opportunity to interview Landzberg in his tiny office filled with textbooks. He thought I looked familiar. We had never met; it was my sister he remembered. She and her husband had consulted with him to ask if it would be safe for her to become pregnant. I told him that her son was a middle schooler now. Landzberg's face lit up. Landzberg advocates lifetime follow-up for all children born with congenital heart disease. About half only need occasional checkups by their physician under the guidance of an adult congenital heart disease specialist, he says, but the rest need to be monitored more frequently directly by a specialist. Landzberg noted that between the ages of 18 and 25, these patients' mortality risk due to their hearts' anatomical limitations may double or even quadruple, depending upon the severity of their condition. Increasing age intensifies the effect on the heart and body of physiological stressors such as growth spurts, exercise and pregnancy, as well as infections, surgeries and other diseases.

    MORE
    See also:

    Survivors Of Childhood Diseases Struggle To Find Care As Adults
    June 21, 2017 - Rachael Goldring was born with congenital heart disease. Had she been born a few decades earlier, she probably would have died as a baby. Goldring is now 24 and among a population of patients who present new challenges to a health care system unaccustomed to dealing with survivors of once-fatal conditions.
    Today there are more adults than kids living with some of these diseases, and medical training is lagging. Young adults who can't find suitable doctors may drop out of care, and their conditions may worsen. Goldring's condition was pulmonary atresia with tetralogy of Fallot. She was born without a pulmonary valve directing blood from her heart to her lungs. It's the condition that talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's baby was born with this spring. "I had my first surgery when I was 9 months," Goldring says. "Now, they do it from birth." Her condition has also meant three more surgeries, a heart valve from a cadaver, complicated secondary diseases and a lifetime in and out of doctors' offices. "I just celebrated my one-year anniversary of staying out of the hospital for the first time since birth," Goldring says. "So, this year, knock on wood, it's been amazing."

    But she fears it might not last. Right now, she is in limbo between pediatric and adult medical care. For Goldring, finding a good doctor could be a matter of life and death. Today, survivors of congenital heart disease can live well past childhood. Dr. Patrick Burke, a pediatrician at Valley Children's Healthcare in Madera, Calif., says other once-fatal ailments like sickle cell disease and spina bifida have undergone similar advances. "This is the so-called medical miracle promised to our parents and grandparents," Burke says, adding that miracle kids like Goldring grow up to be complicated adults. "The job's not done after the surgery or the initial treatment. Many if not most of these conditions require ongoing medical care — lifelong medical care."


    As a child, Rachael Goldring had multiple open-heart surgeries to treat her congenital heart disease. At 24, she still sees pediatricians because she has had difficulty finding the right care in adult medicine.

    Burke is in charge of a new program at his hospital in the new field of "transitional care." He says many conditions worsen around age 18, right as children age out of pediatric care. For instance, he says, that is when patients with congenital heart disease suffer complications with their blood and organs. The trend is particularly stark for cystic fibrosis. "We're seeing this spike of deaths that are happening in the early 20s. And it's bizarre," he says. Dr. Megumi Okumura, a pediatrician with the University of California, San Francisco, became interested in this transition during her residency in the early 2000s. She would see 40- and 50-year-olds in pediatric wards. The reason, she says, partly lies with a fragmented health care system. "They are transferring from differing systems of care," she says, noting the silos that separate pediatric care from adult care. "We have different funding streams and programs."

    Now, Okumura and other researchers are looking for ways to remove what she considers artificial barriers. Clinics around the world are trying out new strategies such as giving nonpediatric doctors more training or bringing in transitional specialists to connect young adults who are chronically ill with new providers. A relatively new fellowship track even trains doctors to work specifically with adults with congenital heart disease. Goldring is fortunate in that she can remain with her pediatricians until she finds the right adult provider. She's working on it, but at the moment, she's much more focused on another transition: She'll be getting married in October.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...care-as-adults

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    Some Breast Cancer Therapies Put Heart at Risk...

    Doctors Warn of Heart Risk From Some Breast Cancer Therapies
    February 01, 2018 - Save your life but harm your heart? Health experts are sounding a warning as potential side effects of a growing number of breast cancer treatments come to light.
    In its first statement on the topic, the American Heart Association on Thursday said women should consider carefully the risks and benefits of any therapies that may hurt hearts. Not all treatments carry these risks, and there may be ways to minimize or avoid some. "We want patients to get the best treatment for their breast cancer," said Dr. Laxmi Mehta, a women's heart health expert at Ohio State University who led the panel that wrote the statement. "Everyone should have a conversation with their doctor about what are the side effects."



    Chapel Hill, N.C. Health experts are stepping up warnings as more cardiac side effects of some breast cancer treatments come to light. In its first guidance on the issue, released on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, the American Heart Association urges that women and their doctors carefully weigh the risks and benefits of any therapy that may cause heart damage.



    There are more than 3 million breast cancer survivors and nearly 48 million women with heart disease in the United States. "Most people with breast cancer fear death from breast cancer. Even after they survive that, they still fear it," but heart disease is more likely to kill them, especially after age 65, Mehta said. Some treatments for other types of cancer may pose heart risks, but they are growing more common for breast cancer patients and the statement addressed only that form of the disease. Here are some questions and answers:


    Q: What are the problems and which treatments can cause them?


    A: Side effects can include abnormal rhythms, valve problems or heart failure, where the heart slowly weakens and can't pump effectively. Symptoms may not appear until long after treatment ends. Herceptin and similar drugs for a specific type of breast cancer can cause heart failure. Sometimes it's temporary and goes away if treatment is stopped, but it can be permanent. Radiation can affect arteries and spur narrowing or blockages. Other drugs can lead to abnormal heart rhythms or artery spasms, which can cause chest pain and possibly lead to a heart attack. Still others can damage DNA.


    Some research suggests that powerful new drugs that harness the immune system to fight cancer may, in rare cases, cause heart damage, especially when used together. "The problem is, no one has this on their radar," so patients are not routinely checked for it, Dr. Javid Moslehi, head of a Vanderbilt University clinic specializing in heart risks from cancer therapies, said when a study reported this problem about a year ago.


    Q: What can be done to avoid harm?

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    If my farts could be used to heat my house I'm there.

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    Since @waltky has been MIA ten days, I guess I will add in the interesting random news to the thread:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/u...dely-used.html

    Heart Stents Are Useless for Most Stable Patients. They’re Still Widely Used.

    ...
    Researchers gathered patients with severe coronary disease at five sites in Britain, and randomized them to one of two groups. All were given medication according to a protocol for a period of time. Then, the first group of patients received a stent. In the second, patients were kept sedated for at least 15 minutes, but no stent was placed.
    Six weeks later, all the patients were tested on a treadmill. Exercise tends to bring out pain in such patients, and monitoring them while they’re under stress is a common way to check for angina. At the time of testing, neither the patient nor the cardiologist knew whether a stent had been placed. And, based on the results, they couldn’t figure it out even after testing: There was no difference in the outcomes of interest between the intervention and placebo groups.

    Stents didn’t appear even to relieve pain.
    Some caveats: All the patients were treated rigorously with medication before getting their procedures, so many had improved significantly before getting (or not getting) a stent. Some patients in the real world won’t stick to the intensive medical therapies, so there may be a benefit from stents for those patients (we don’t know). The follow-up was only at six weeks, so longer-term outcomes aren’t known. These results also apply only to those with stable angina. There may be more of a place for stents in patients who are sicker, who have disease in more than one blood vessel, or who fail to respond to medical therapy.
    But many, if not most patients, probably don’t need them. This is hard for patients and physicians to wrap their heads around because, in their experience, patients who got stents got better. They seemed to receive a benefit from the procedure. But that benefit appears to be because of the placebo effect, not any physical change from improved blood flow. The patients in the study felt better from a procedure in the same way that my children did when I rubbed moisturizer on them.

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    New Technology Being Developed for Pacemakers...

    New Technology Being Developed for Pacemakers
    March 21, 2018 | WASHINGTON — You may have seen this on TV: Someone whose heart has gone into a wildly abnormal rhythm, or whose heart has stopped, is shocked when a medic uses defibrillator paddles to restart the heart.
    The electric shock is so powerful that the body convulses and the patient screams. You can see it on YouTube if you search for “defibrillator shock.” The video makes clear what patients go through, including those who have defibrillators implanted in their hearts. Aydin Babakhani, an engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, likens implantable defibrillators to dial up telephones, which have long since been replaced by smartphones. “Pacemakers use a very old technology. They still use wires. They still use batteries. And they are bulky and large,” he said.

    New ways for the heart

    Babakhani places tiny sensors on very small chips for industrial and medical use. Before his move to UCLA, he worked at Rice University, where he began collaborating with Dr. Mehdi Razavi, a cardiologist at the Texas Heart Institute. The men were investigating new ways to pace and defibrillate the heart. The collaboration was easy because Rice is across the street from the heart institute.

    As a cardiac electrophysiologist, Razavi wants to be able to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm without shocking the patient. Razavi says the idea of placing a number of small chips in the heart could achieve that goal. “The limitation up to now with using pacing is that we simply do not have enough pacing sites to distribute this energy across the heart muscle,” he said. Babakhani developed small chips to pace the heart and help it stay in a normal rhythm. They are smaller than a dime, less than 18 millimeters long. This pacing system has no battery and no leads, the wires that connect the battery to the heart in traditional pacemakers.

    Traumatic, painful event

    Even when there’s no pain, defibrillation has a huge impact. When John O’Leary’s implanted defibrillator sent shocks to his heart to get it back into a normal rhythm, it stopped him cold. “I thought I walked into a lamp post,” he said. “There was no pain whatsoever. I really felt that I walked into something hard.”

    Razavi says another problem with the pacemaker/defibrillators now in use is that once patients are defibrillated, many of them feel traumatized. It can take more than one shock to get the heart back into a normal rhythm. Anne Bunting said she screamed in pain through repeated defibrillations. “It saved my life that day, but it was also a fearsome thing to go through because it was so painful,” she said.

    Preclinical trials promising
    See also:

    Implantable Heart Defibrillators Deliver Shock in More Ways Than One
    March 20, 2018 - A resting heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute can be life-threatening. It means the heart is beating too fast to pump blood to the rest of the body, including the brain and the lungs. This can cause the heart to suddenly stop beating. It can cause a stroke or heart failure.
    A implantable cardioverter defibrillator, commonly known as an ICD, can prevent sudden death, but the device has drawbacks. One is pain. The other is fear of defibrillation. John O'Leary got an ICD about a year after having a heart attack. "I had a couple of episodes where I became dizzy while exercising. I was out biking, and in one instant, actually, I think I lost conscious for a brief second or so," he said. "I thought it was probably just dehydration, heat, what have you." But it wasn't anything he suspected. Instead, O'Leary had the classic symptoms of a heart rhythm disorder. The lower chambers of his heart were beating too fast and irregularly. The ICD acts instantly when a patient's heart rhythm goes out of sync.

    Medronic, a company that makes ICDs, reports that every month, 10,000 people in the U.S. have one implanted. Here's how it works: A doctor inserts a small electronic device under the skin, usually under the collarbone. The ICD is powered by a battery. It's connected to one or more sensing wires, called leads, that are implanted in the heart. If the heart is out of rhythm, the ICD automatically sends small electrical signals through the leads to correct it. If that doesn't work, the defibrillator delivers a shock to restore the heart to a normal rate. "That's just the basic physics of the process," said Dr. Mehdi Razavi, an electrophysiologist at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston. "When you deliver a shock, there's pain involved."

    Like 'lightning'

    O'Leary didn't experience any pain, but Anne Bunting did. "It was like being hit by lightning. I actually saw a flash of white light and the sound that lightning makes coming down a tree, and then, boom! And it shocked me five times in a row, and I was screaming. That's how much it hurt." Bunting got on the floor to keep herself from falling. Razavi said that when shocks are delivered, they can happen more than once. "You can have half a dozen shocks in a row, and that's typically because the underlying cause has not been immediately reversed," he said. O'Leary compares the shock to walking into a lamp post or a wall. It happened while he was walking toward his car in a parking lot. "There was no lamp post, no wall, there was nothing between me and the car. But that's exactly what it felt like." He also saw a flash of light, which he figured to be the electrical discharge. Then he realized what had happened.

    More improvements sought

    Over the years, ICD designs have improved. The devices are smaller and less invasive than they used to be. But Razavi wants them smaller still. And he doesn't want patients to even notice that they are being defibrillated. He is working with an electrical engineer at the University of California-Los Angeles to develop small chips that provide small, inconspicuous shocks that return the heart to a normal rhythm, without the patient's noticing — no flash of light, no pain, no feeling of having walked into a wall. Razavi and Aydin Babakhani, the UCLA professor of engineering, feel that they are on to something that fills the bill. It's at least five years away from being available to heart patients, but the men are confident they'll get there.

    https://www.voanews.com/a/implantabl...e/4307551.html
    Last edited by waltky; 03-21-2018 at 11:21 PM.

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    Even low air pollution may damage heart...

    Low levels of air pollution linked to changes in the heart
    3 Aug.`18 - Regular exposure to even low levels of air pollution may cause changes to the heart similar to those in the early stages of heart failure, experts say.

    ​​

    A study of 4,000 people in the UK found those who lived by loud, busy roads had larger hearts on average than those living in less polluted areas. This was despite the fact people in the study were exposed to pollution levels below the UK guidelines. Researchers called on the government to reduce air pollution more quickly. A team of scientists, led from Queen Mary University of London, analysed health data of people who had no underlying heart problems and were part of the UK Biobank study, including the size, weight and function of their hearts.




    Researchers also looked at the pollution levels in the areas they lived in. Their study found a clear link between exposure to higher pollution levels and larger right and left ventricles - important pumping chambers in the heart. For every extra one microgram per cubic metre of PM2.5 - small particles of air pollution - and for every 10 extra micrograms per cubic metre of nitrogen dioxide, the heart enlarged by about 1%. The changes were comparable to being consistently inactive or having elevated blood pressure, said Dr Nay Aung, who led the study's data analysis. "Air pollution should be seen as a modifiable risk factor," he said. "Doctors and the general public all need to be aware of their exposure when they think about their heart health, just like they think about their blood pressure, their cholesterol and their weight."

    While the exact locations where people lived were not included in the study, most were outside of the major UK cities and all of them were exposed to levels of PM2.5 air pollution well below current UK limits. In the study, average annual exposures to PM2.5 ranged from eight to 12 micrograms per cubic metre. This is lower than the UK limits of 25 micrograms per cubic metre but closer to the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 10 micrograms per cubic metre. This fine particle pollution is particularly dangerous because it can penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system.


    [img]https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/1444C/production/_102802038_gettyimages-659788570.jpg[/img]






    Diesel cars are a big contributor of air pollution






    Exposure to nitrogen dioxide in the study ranged from 10-50 micrograms per cubic metre - the UK and WHO limits are 40 micrograms per cubic metre. Dr Aung said the changes in the heart were small and potentially reversible. But he said the fact any change at all was detectable suggested even relatively low levels of air pollution may have a harmful effect on health. "If you think the current levels of air pollution are safe, then in theory we shouldn't be able to detect any changes," Dr Aung added.


    'Can't expect people to move'


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