American Heart Association

High trans fat consumption is linked to poor memory among middle-aged men, according to research presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Session 2014.

The most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition that can lead to heart failure, angina, arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. There is no medical treatment shown to halt or reverse the progression of the disease-just palliative care or surgery.

Cardiologists treating pediatric patients with Marfan syndrome were hopeful that positive results from animal studies using losartan would be replicated in humans. But in a comparison of losartan with atenolol, researchers found no difference in the drugs' performance.

For patients with a statin intolerance, getting the treatment they need to manage their cholesterol levels can be difficult. A recent study has shown that a new class of drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors could help effectively manage cholesterol levels in this patient population.

In the Hollywood version of the heart attack, patients clutch their chests, gasp for air, and often keel over. Real life isn't usually like that. But the problem for cardiologists and other physicians whose patients have cardiac events, is that the patient may not realize he or she has had one.

During a question-and-answer session at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2014, Stefania Schüpke, MD discussed the results of her ISAR-SAFE study of the dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation is still unknown.

Undetected neonatal heart defects can cause a variety of serious problems, including an increased risk of death. A recently enacted New Jersey law mandating screening for congenital heart defects has uncovered cases of congenital heart problems and likely saved lives.

Heart failure is highly debilitating and life threatening – nearly half the patients who die from cardiovascular causes do so suddenly when their heart simply stops pumping, well before medical intervention is even possible.

Can cholesterol get too low? Results from a multicenter international study called IMPROVE-IT show that adding ezetimibe to a statin regimen lowered cholesterol without harmful side effects in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

With heart failure increasing in prevalence as the US population ages, early detection and more effective treatments are important. Now, data from clinical studies show that treatment with the experimental angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor LCZ696 can significantly reduce patients' risk of sudden death and hospitalization.

Kirk Garratt, MD, presenting at the 2014 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, said "The TAXUS Liberte Post-approval Study (TL-PAS) was designed to provide long-term safety and efficacy information about the clinical outcomes for the TL stent combined with the use of prasugrel and aspirin."

Former VP Dick Cheney spoke at AHA 2014 about his experiences as a model heart patient. Speaking with his cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner, MD, of George Washington University, Cheney recounted his 5 heart attacks, a CABG procedure, defibrillator implantation, getting a left-ventricular assistive device, and at age 71, a heart from an anonymous donor.

"Left heart remodeling after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is poorly characterized," according to Marco Magalhaes, MD, who presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2014.

The days of children playing outside from sunrise to sunset are long gone, and many children also do not get enough exercise at school during gym or recess. Knowing this, it is important for physicians to educated parents and children on the beneficial effect physical exercise can have on children's health now and later in life.

Living in the 21st century is stressful for just about everyone. What can change the way it affects a person's life is how they handle it. A recent study looked at whether women handle stress differently and what it can mean to a person's overall health.

High-caffeine energy drinks can cause serious cardiac and neurological symptoms in children. At the 2014 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago, IL, Steven Lipshultz, MD, called for new labeling on the drinks that would spell out risks, particularly for the adolescent consumers manufacturers target for marketing.

As more states legalize marijuana for medical and recreational purposes doctors are taking a new look at how it can affect their patient's overall health including what it does to their heart.

Could hospitals be a bad place to have heart attacks? That's the finding of a North Carolina research team that looked at data from 303 California hospitals. Patients who had heart attacks while hospitalized for a non-cardiac ailment had a more than 3-fold greater in-hospital mortality than patients taken to a hospital.

Dual antiplatelet blood-thinning therapy (DAPT) immediately after stenting with a drug-eluting device has been shown to prevent major cardiac events and stent thrombosis in most patients. Current American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines recommend 12 months of therapy post-stenting. But out of concern over potential risks of continuing the drugs longer, or even indefinitely, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked device manufacturers to study the longer-term consequences of the therapy.

With nearly one-third of US adults suffering from vitamin D deficiency, and studies showing a strong association between vitamin D deficiency and hypertension risk, supplementation with vitamin D may increase the effectiveness of hypertension treatments.

Although there appears to be no difference in blood pressure reduction in patients who take aspirin at bedtime compared to those who take it when they awake in the morning, bedtime aspirin may be associated with reduced morning platelet reactivity.

A recent study of thienopyridine use among patients who had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in a large hospital network found that the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor was more frequently prescribed in higher risk, less stable patients.

Treatment with rivaroxaban reduced the long-term risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke in patients with ACS on a thienopyridine such as clopidogrel, regardless of PPI use.

Initial results from human clinical trials involving the use of bioengineered blood vessels could point the way to cost-effective alternative therapies for hemodialysis patients with end-stage renal disease.

Patients with heart failure who received left ventricle augmentation with Algisyl-LVR hydrogel implant experienced improved quality of life and functional capacity compared to similar patients treated with optimal medical therapy.

Results from a recent study show that intensive statin therapy in patients with acute coronary syndrome does not increase the risk of kidney injury.

Patients with non-ST-segment elevation (non-STEMI) acute coronary syndrome and peripheral artery disease (PAD) treated with the PAR-1 antagonist vorapaxar experienced a reduction in ischemic events and other outcomes compared to patients who received placebo, with no increased risk of bleeding compared to patients who did not have PAD.

Antiarrhythmic drug therapy was associated with increased risk of rehospitalization after one year in a population of elderly patients with atrial fibrillation and CAD.

Although they had more cardiovascular comorbidities, patients with atrial fibrillation and diabetes experienced rates of ischemic stroke comparable to those in AF patients without diabetes.

Analysis of health claims data indicates that physicians are underprescribing anticoagulant treatment in large numbers of patients with atrial fibrillation who are at high risk of stroke and low risk of bleeding.