Article • Microvascular resistance
Test predicts myocardial infarction outcome
Researchers have identified a new test that can be used to predict the likelihood of a patient developing heart failure, or even dying following a heart attack.
Vessels
News • New Method
Detecting blood clots with a single scan
A blood clot is a dangerous health situation with the potential to trigger heart attacks, strokes and other medical emergencies. To treat a blood clot, doctors need to find its exact location. But current clinical techniques can only look at one part of the body at a time, slowing treatment and increasing the risk for complications. Now, researchers are reporting a method, tested in rats, that…
News • Arterial thrombosis
Cloaking of collagen frees up the flow
Blood clots often form when lipid-rich plaques on the inner surface of arteries rupture and platelets aggregate at the site of injury. LMU cardiologists have now compared the effects of two new platelet aggregation inhibitors.
Article • Stroke treatment
Six international studies endorse thrombectomy
Results from six international randomised controlled studies conclusively and uniformly confirm, for the very first time, the effectiveness of thrombectomy in patients with acute, severe ischaemic strokes caused by a blood clot in one of the proximal cerebral arteries. The endovascular procedure is an add-on to conventional thrombolysis. EH reports from a German Stroke Society (DSG) press…
News • Blindness
OCT technology detects blood vessel in the eye
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) demonstrates that technology invented by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute can improve the clinical management of the leading causes of blindness. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography could largely replace current dye-based angiography in the management of these…
New material for creating artificial blood vessels
Blocked blood vessels can quickly become dangerous. It is often necessary to replace a blood vessel – either by another vessel taken from the body or even by artificial vascular prostheses. Together, Vienna University of Technology and Vienna Medical University have developed artificial blood vessels made from a special elastomer material, which has excellent mechanical properties. Over time,…
Article • Liver
Stellate cells control regeneration and fibrosis
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Medical Faculty in Mannheim at Heidelberg University are searching for new approaches to prevent liver fibrosis. They have identified a surface molecule on special liver cells called stellate cells as a potential target for interfering with this process. When the researchers turned off the receptor, this led to reduced liver…
Endovascular thrombolysis
Neurologists keenly debate the value of mechanical reopening of blocked blood vessels in the brain, as demonstrated during the 21st World Congress for Neurology (WCN) in Vienna this September. Theoretically, endovascular thrombolysis can only be considered for 20-30% of all incidents of stroke.
Genetic variation doubles risk of aortic valve calcification
Study described in The New England Journal of Medicine is the first to show cause-and-effect relationship between a gene variant and calcium deposits on the aortic valve.
Cardiology 'must be evidence-based' says ACC
Ian Mason reports from Chicago