11% drop in AMI admissions
Less acute heart attacks in Italy five months after the introduction of a smoking ban in indoor public places.
Cardiovascular diseases
Vielversprechende Forschungsergebnisse zu Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen
Das Center for Cardiovaskular Research (CCR) an der Berliner Charité konnte sich durch vielseitige Grundlagenforschung über die deutschen Landesgrenzen hinaus bereits einen Namen machen. Nun stellt das CCR in einem aktuellen Zwischen- bericht unter anderem vielversprechende Ent- wicklungen einer neuen Medikamentenklasse bei Endorganschäden und die Erforschung der Blutgefäßbildung bei…
Identifying Smokers via text messaging proves effective for CVD battle
An innovative scheme using mobile technology to identify patients 'at risk# of developing CVD by effectively establishing smoking status has recently proved a great success for NHS Hammersmith and Fulham.
CHD symptoms
Coronary heart disease (CHD) symptoms, presented in the context of a stressful life event, were identified as psychogenic when presented by women and organic when presented by men, which could help explain why there is often a delay in the assessment of women with CHD, according to research presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.
Stents: Most patients don't receive stress tests to confirm need
Investigating the appropriate use of procedures to open narrowed coronary arteries, e.g. angioplasty and stenting, researchers at UCSF (University of California, USA) found that less than 50% of Medicare patients had documented non-invasive stress testing prior to elective percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI (clinical name for these procedures).
Patient-worn telemetry system aids mobility
Dräger's new Infinity M300 patient-worn monitor has been installed at major hospitals in the USA and Germany. Though compact and patient-worn by adult or paediatric patients, this telemetry system performs like a full-size patient monitor, the manufacturer points out, adding that it runs on a hospital's existing 802.11 b/g network, saving costs on a separate wireless network.
From Dusseldorf around the world
This was not a quick birth. The concept began back in 1963. After finishing each day's work at the Women's Hospital, Dusseldorf, obstetrician Konrad Hammacher spent his nights at the Medical Academy, toiling over an idea.
The first cross-border European University Hospital
During the MCC Hospital World 2008 congress, held in Berlin this September, speakers from international firms and hospital chains discussed the demands and necessities for future healthcare.
Obese children at higher risk for premature heart disease
The obesity epidemic is increasingly affecting young teens worldwide. In the USA the epidemic is well-established: more than 17% of children are obese and about a third of those have high blood pressure, which places them at risk for premature heart disease.
Bariatric surgery cuts cardiovascular risk in obese patients
Cardiovascular risk in obese patients can be reduced up to 79% in those who undergo Roux-en-Y gastric bypass after other treatments have failed, compared with those who do not have this procedure, according to a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology (1/10/08).
New European guidelines on heart attack management put emphasis on speed of action
Timing, emergency network, reperfusion therapy are central to new recommendations for the management of heart attack which have been developed by a Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and were issued on the 14th November.
MEDICA 2008 opens its doors
When from 19 to 22 November the world's largest medical fair takes place in Dusseldorf, the entire city is in a kind of emergency state: hotels are bustin' out of their seams, traffic periodically comes to a standstill and at night exhibitors and visitors alike crowd the narrow streets of the Altstadt and the fancy hotel bars and enjoy whatever entertainment North Rhine-Westphalia's capital has…
New concepts for dose reduction in the diagnosis of coronary heart disease with CT
Professor Stefan Schönberg of the Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine (IKRN), University Hospital Mannheim, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, invited colleagues from Mannheim and the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BFS) in Neuherberg for a round-table discussion on: Non-invasive multidetector coronary CT angiography (CTA) has become an established…
EurAsia Heart
The Swiss charity EurAsia Heart, founded in 2006 by cardiac surgeon Professor Paul Vogt MD, at Zurich University Hospital, emerged from numerous contacts being made with Asian heart surgeons at the beginning of 2000, and consequent invitations to perform surgery and lecture tours in China.
'More knowledge — less dose'
X-rays are made up of high-energy photons. This type of radiation follows the physical laws of electromagnetic waves as well as of particles.
Expansion for range of cardiovascular genetic tests
Lab21 is to expand its portfolio of genetic tests for inherited cardiac syndromes.
itm Rhenium-PTA/PTCA®
'An effective, safe treatment for prophylaxis of restenosis in periphery and cardiology' — new generation of Endovascular Brachytherapy gains full CE-certification. Constricted blood vessels (stenosis and restenosis) can now sustainably be treated and kept open through the local treatment with beta radiation.
Two for one - and one for two
Philips and Steris join forces to provide hybrid surgical rooms: a flexible environment for optimal imaging during open and minimally invasive cardiovasculare procedures that will optimise workflow and streamline room planning.
NICE renewed flu guidance
The next flu season will come. To prevent high-risk people from infections, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently published a final guidance on the use of the drugs oseltamivir, amantadine and zanamivir for the prophylaxis of influenza. "But vaccination is the main way to prevent flu", says Gillian Leng, NICE Deputy Chief Executive.
Mystery of complicated plaques
Until recently, physicians believed that stenosis was responsible for strokes. But new investigations show that the composition of complicated plaques are the major cause. Canadian researchers now used 3-D MRI to accuratly detect bleeding by those plaques within the vessel walls.
Eat Mediterranean to stay healthy
Mediterranean diet protects against chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Italian scientists bolstering one more time the idea that low intake of meat, dairy products and alcohol, but high intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, olive oil, grains and fish servers as a model of healthy eating, according to a study in the British Medical Journal.
Be careful with your heart
New research claims that nearly four million people in the UK may be unaware they are at high risk of heart disease. An University of Oxford team screened more than 71,000 people aged over 18 across England, Wales and Scotland.
Diabetes and the heart
ESC speaker John Cleland from the University of Hull, UK, sumed up the latest treatment available for patients with diabetes mellitus and expressed his worries about side-effects and efficacy of available anti-diabetic drugs. If you want to read his ESC abstract, just click the “read more” button.
Tablets for the people?
Last week the English government closed its consultation on the effectiveness of vascular checks for high-risk people aged 40-74. Would this help? Experts from New Zealand and the WHO say "yes". Others argue that public health approaches targeting the whole population are both: cheaper and more effective than tablets.
A sad mood causes a bad heart
The common parlance knew it long before experts paid attention to it: a persons mood can be associated to its heart. But indeed in recent years much attention has been spend to depression following heart attack and its effects on prognosis. On the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) two Dutch studies have been introduced indicating that especially somatic and incident depression…
