Heart attacks

June 17, 2008 -- ROCHESTER, Minn. — Researchers have long suspected that socioeconomic factors like education level and income also might affect survival rates following heart attack. In the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers present new data suggesting that people with lower incomes and education levels are more likely to die after heart attack than more affluent, educated people.    » read more »

American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology joint scientific statement

DALLAS, Dec. 11 - New clinical trial data on a variety of aspects of heart attack care has prompted the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association to update portions of their joint guidelines for treating the type of heart attack called ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).    » read more »

11/07/2007 -- Patients’ own stem cells injected into their hearts after treatment for an ST elevation heart attack improved their hearts’ improved pumping ability, researchers reported during a late-breaking special session on stem cell research at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2007.

In the IM-BMC randomized, double-blind trial, researchers assessed the safety and efficacy of injecting sufferers’ own stem cells into their hearts. The patients had been initially treated with clot-busting drugs, followed by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).    » read more »

11/06/2007 -- Increased roadway pollution produced by diesel fuel in vehicles is leading to a cascade of conditions that could result in heart attack or stroke, researchers suggested in the report of a small study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007.

United Kingdom and Swedish researchers found that diesel exhaust increased clot formation and blood platelet activity in healthy volunteers — which could lead to heart attack and stroke.    » read more »

Sept. 4, 2007, LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville professor Suresh Tyagi has recently received grants totaling more than $4.1 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study an amino acid that may explain why roughly one fourth of all heart attacks occur in people with no known risk factors.    » read more »

3-Sep-2007 -- Patients with depression appear to have an impaired ability to recover their heart rate variability following acute coronary syndromes such as heart attack, a factor that could increase their risk of coronary death, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, patients who are treated with antidepressants or whose mood lifts may experience more of an improvement in heart rate variability than those who are untreated or remain depressed.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, May 10 — Most women 55 years and younger who have heart attacks don’t recognize warning signs, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s 8th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.    » read more »