Heart Failure

Treating patients with diabetes can be enough of a challenge for doctors, add in the comorbidity of cardiac conditions as well and the work gets that much harder to navigate for even the most veteran clinicians.

Researchers report that patients with psoriatic arthritis face significantly higher risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity compared with the general population.

Congenital heart disease may have the same name in adult and pediatric care but the two conditions can often require vastly different approaches in care. Despite that work in the field is being done to help patients of all age maintain a high quality of life.

As congenital heart patients transition from pediatric care to adult care there is a world of new challenges awaiting them. How they approach those challenges and how their doctors help them in that time can determine how they manage the condition in the future.

Treatment of adult congenital heart disease has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few decades but there is still much more work to be done. Areas of research like stem cells could be part of the future of treating this condition in the future.

A lot has been done to bolster the treatment of congenital heart disease and managing the risks of this patient population. Because of that these patients are able to live a longer and fuller life including pregnancy and childbirth like other people.

Even the most severe cases of congenital heart disease can be treated to a level where they can safely navigate high risk pregnancies.

It was not that long ago that women with congenital heart disease were discouraged from becoming pregnant. Thanks to advances in diagnosis and treatment that is no longer the case.

For obese patients, bariatric surgery may decrease life threatening heart failure incidents, according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Despite recently approved medications showing improvement over previously used diet pills and other treatments there is still no medicinal cure for obesity and the best hope for patients in many cases is lifestyle changes.

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved some new tools in the fight against obesity. While they provide some help for patients looking to lose weight there are also side effects which doctors and patients patients to consider.

Medical science and research has helped move many parts of cardiology from potentially fatal conditions to more chronic issues for patients and doctors to address. Cholesterol control is moving in that direction thanks to new advancements in medication and surgical options.

HDL and LDL may be the more well known components of a patient's cholesterol level but as researchers dig deeper new information is coming to light about very low-density lipoprotein or VLDL.

There are many ways patients can better manage their cholesterol than they could just a few years ago. Whether they are successful in those efforts and the role of doctors and medications in that process remains to be seen.

As the debate continues between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol researchers are looking for answers on how to help patients manage their cholesterol levels.

Even as technology improves to help patients dealing with cardiovascular disease, those responsible for the procedures also must consider providing treatment while weighing the costs of that work.

Since its inception nearly a decade ago the PARTNER trials have shown new opportunities for cardiovascular disease patients to receive treatment they may not have been candidates for before.

Enjoying a glass of red wine is beneficial for cardiac health, new research finds.

For a chronic condition like heart failure there are many factors that can help decide the effectiveness of their care. A recent debate looked at whether low salt diet would help in that effort.

Even the most seasoned medical research teams can find themselves not reaching the goals they set out for themselves in a study. Learning from those lessons can sometimes be more motivation to find answers down the road.

Vitamin D has long been touted for its several health benefits.

As one of the components of the CHADS2 score diabetes is a known risk for stroke. A recent study looked at how rivaroxaban, also known as Xarelto can help patients reduce this potentially deadly health issue.

An electronic device that stimulates the vagus nerve improved patients’ ability to walk farther without getting winded and was proven to be safe, but it did not affect rates of death or hospitalization, researchers found.

Adding aliskiren to enalapril in treating heart failure patients resulted in more adverse events but no benefit, a UK team reported.

For those how enter the field of genetic testing there are many challenges along the way, starting with finding the right training program through using that training in very difficult situations.

As more is learned about genetic conditions in cardiology more is being done to help not only to help the patients themselves but those around them as well.

Hopes that losmapimod would benefit patients after a STEMI heart attack were not borne out by a study reported today at the American College of Cardiology's meeting in Chicago, IL.

Stress directly impacts the arteries. Imaging studies enable physicians to actually see the proof, a Boston, MA team reports.

In findings that shocked the Cleveland Clinic researchers who compiled them, heart attack patients are getting younger and have more comorbidities than expected.

There have been promising results in a Phase II trial showing that gene transfer treatment of patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction was safe and successful in over 90% of patients.