American Heart Association

Injecting globs of a biopolymer based on brown algae into the heart muscle of patients with advanced heart disease helped halt or reverse disease. The procedure is meant to thicken the ventricle wall. That reduces pumping stress.

An investigational drug called andexanet alfa that can reverse the anticoagulant effects of FXa inhibitors met all primary and secondary efficacy endpoints, researchers said in a late-breaking clinical trial report at the AHA meeting in Orlando.

Analysis of data from the PEGASUS-TIMI 54 trial showed high rates of treatment discontinuation due to adverse events such as bleeding and dyspnea, with the highest rate occurring in the first year of treatment. Patients who stuck with treatment experienced a reduction in cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke.

Chest pain is one of the most common reasons that patients visit the emergency room, and the use of troponin testing can help cut down the time between first medical contact to final patient disposition.

Intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) appears safe in selected patients who were already on novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) a team reported at the American Heart Association Annual Scientitific Session in Orlando, FL.

Registering with multiple organ transplant centers may give wealthier patients an edge over less affluent patients who may be more deserving of a transplant.

Depending on where people live their ability to do a simple exercise like walking can be greatly affected. How they choose to incorporate walking into their lives can go a long way in determining their overall health.

Students around the world are taught the benefits of healthy eating but sometimes that message does not always reach its desired audience effectively. Because of that new efforts are underway to better get the message across.

The Fat Fibre Sodium Score was created using the top three most predictable cardiovascular risk-reducing food categories and offers a quick, easy way to evaluate nutrition changes during post-cardiac rehabilitation.

The significant others of patients undergoing implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) have long been concerned about continuing sexual activity following the implantation.

Heart disease is the number one killer of US women, but a national survey found cardiovascular health is not on most women's radar.

For overweight adults with type 2 diabetes, study results show that even light walking was linked to an average 10-point drop in blood pressure.

There are many anti-thrombotics available. An industry study showed apixaban had the best record of dissolving clots without causing major bleedign.

A recent study assessed whether a mobile app for the Android can promote better eating and exercise habits which can lead to improved heart health.

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) can dissolve lethal clots in the lungs but also carries a risk of excessive bleeding. Tennessee researchers reported on a new approach that worked better in a mouse study.

Type 2 diabetes drug empagliflozin significantly diminished the incidences of hospitalizations and even death from heart failure.

Previous studies have shown that less than one-third of patients discharged from the hospital for acute coronary syndrome actually remain abstinent from smoking.

Iron buildup in the brain may be related to the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers have found the mechanism leading to this iron accumulation, at least in mice.

Study results show PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab reduces cholesterol by increasing the fractional clearance rate of IDL and LDL.

Reducing the risk that stroke patients face of falling can be a matter of chosing proper oral anticoagulants.Researchers said edoxaban is less risky than warfarin.

The scoring system known as CHA2DS2-VASc is commonly used as a clinical guideline for assessing ischemic stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). A research team from Santiago, Chile found it can also predict vascular dysfunction and cardiovascular events in high-risk patients who do not have AF.

Independent of cardiac risk factors, including chronological age and blood pressure preserved telomere length "represents healthy cellular aging," Dhananjay Vaidya and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University reported in an abstract.

Patients with hepatitis C being treated with sofosbuvir-based regimens might benefit from monitoring for severe bradyarrhythmia.

A committee of the European Medicines Agency has completed a long-anticipated review finding no evidence that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines trigger complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).

Renal transplant patients often develop anemia (up to 40% are anemic 1 year after transplant) and often, clinicians fail to treat anemia aggressively. Anemia has been correlated with increased hospitalizations and higher mortality

Researchers assess the association between endovascular mechanical thrombectomy and clinical outcomes after ischemic stroke.

The presence of urate crystal precipitation does not necessarily indicate a greater risk of cardiovascular complications for patients with increased levels of monosodium urate, which is the defining characteristic of gout.

A new tool for assessing the risk of thromboembolic events in patients with atrial fibrillation performed better than the existing standard in a large retrospective analysis. ATRIA risk scores were less likely than CHA2DS2-VASc scores to mistakenly characterize patients as "high risk" and, therefore, to lead to the overuse of anticoagulation.

In the second part of an interview with Kim Van Naarden Braun, PhD, the screening process used in New Jersey is discussed at the national level.

With technology improving every day the state of New Jersey implemented a program three years ago to mandate screening for critical congenital heart defects.