Hypertension

For patients who receive left ventricular assist device implants there is no assurance that the device will work enough for them to have a high quality of life. New research has shown a potential treatment which could make a significant improvement in this area.

The annual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions were filled with a wide range of presentations made in New Orleans. It was the late breaking news that made the most impact for those in attendance as they look to the future of cardiac care.

As the American Heart Association wrapped up another successful conference in New Orleans, each of the approximately 18,000 providers in attendance was bringing home something new to their practices or optimism for new treatments to come in the future.

Novel oral anticoagulants have made treatment of many patients considerably easier over the past few years. Finding ways to apply that to veterans can help a patient population deserving of high quality health care.

Much like civilians, military veterans have trouble maintaining safe levels with warfarin treatment.

With more than 10,000 providers from around the world converging on the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, lessons from the event can be implemented as soon as the next day or show promise of work to come in the future.

The treatment of cardiovascular disease for men may be ahead of where it is for women, but there is a concerted effort to bring the two into a more balanced measure.

A lot is yet to be determined about the potential benefits of precision medicine in cardiology. As that field develops, there will also be questions about the varying benefits for men and women.

Praluent has been studied at a variety of levels and, now that it's been approved, there has been more insight on its benefits and risks.

With statins being a common treatment option to help patients reduce their cholesterol levels, the still relatively newly approved PCSK9 inhibitors have proven a valuable tool. However, they are not enough to help eliminate concerns about cardiac care and cholesterol.

Doctors prescribing Praluent for their patients have two dosing options to choose from. Studies on the treatment option have shown that the safety profile for both are good for patients.

In just over a year, Praluent has shown benefits in helping patients lower their cholesterol level. Despite the progress, there have also been some challenges.

For doctors concerned about cardiovascular disease in patients, there have been some lingering questions about the best medications to prescribe.

AHA President Steven Houser opens the AHA Scientific Sessions 2016 with a moving talk on his father's premature death from heart disease.

There are a lot of tasty things that people with diabetes should not eat. But butter is not one of them, a study found.

For many years, there were no good treatments for patients with pulmonary hypertension. That has changed recently, but there is still much more work to be done.

Unlike other conditions, pulmonary hypertension has symptoms that can be hard to identify in order to give the patients the right diagnosis. Misdiagnosis can not only worsen the symptoms, but also make treatment that much harder in the long run.

For cardiologists, treating a patient with hypertension is becoming a more common and less complicated effort. However, a similar condition, called pulmonary hypertension, is not nearly as well understood, managed, or treated.

Phase 3 trials showed that empaglifloxin (Jardiance/Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly) can reduce blood pressure in type 2 patients.

Several studies have ranked states by how fat its residents are. A new one looks at diabetes rates as well, and paints a picture of "diabesity" in the US.

Acupuncture has been used and studied as an alternative pain management method, and although it appears to offer some benefit as a treatment for some forms of chronic pain, the evidence supporting its positive effect on other health conditions is uneven at best.

Controlling blood pressure may be more important in stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation than thought.

Previous research has found that hypertension and cardiovascular health is linked to the age that a woman goes through natural menopause. A study led by researchers from the Netherlands aimed to find if blood pressure has an impact.

There have been great strides made in recent years to help treat patients diagnosed with heart disease. As technology improves and new medications are developed it will be important to ensure they can get to the patients who need them most.

While lifestyle modifications and changes in diet can help prevent heart disease in men and women alike there are some distinct differences when it comes to treating these patients once a diagnosis is made.

As more has been learned over the years about heart disease there is also a greater awareness of the impact it can have on women. Because of this increased awareness a greater effort is underway to help catch these conditions before they become fatal.

For many, cardiovascular disease can be seen as mostly an issue facing men. However, work has been done to raise the education of women to help ensure their health as well.

While some people may see high blood pressure as a normal factor in pregnancy and delivery it can actually be a serious problem at the time and down the road.

Recent trials involving promising medications to treat patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction have not produced significant reductions in mortality.

The FDA approved a fixed-dose combination of canagliflozin and metformin hydrochloride extended release (Invokamet RX/Janssen).