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.
What is the role of vascular ultrasound in stroke prevention? Asked by Karoline Laarmann of European Hospital, Professor Christian Arning MD, Medical Director of the Neurology Department at Asklepios Klinik Wandsbek, Germany, and Deputy Chairman of the German Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM), gave an unequivocal answer: crucial - but only if the sonographer is properly qualified.
Countries vary widely in their capacity to manage hypertension, but globally the majority of diagnosed hypertensives is inadequately controlled. Not treated it can cause cardiovascular disease (CVD), myocardial infarction and stroke. According to the WHO, hypertension is estimated to cause 4.5% of the current global disease burden and is as prevalent in many developing countries as in the…
Medicine is not earthly anymore. The first defibrillator has reached the International Space Station (ISS). LIFEPAK 1000 developed by Physio-Control of Redmond will be available for NASA crew members in case of a sudden cardiac arrest in space.
British researchers found that the NHS and private healthcare are not providing good enough basic care to a large portion of the population in England. Particulary older and frailer people are suffering from lack of care.
Tiny lipid-shelled microbubbles injected in vessels may serve as an new ultrasound contrast agent to evaluate microvascular blood flow. By this microbubbles US-researcher devised a ultrasound imaging technique that can spot early signs of PAD.
The ankle brachial index, a ratio of blood pressure measurements used to indicate the risk of peripheral artery disease and atherosclerosis, may be useful to improve the accuracy of cardiovascular risk prediction, according to a meta-analysis of previous studies.
Even in 2004, the medical costs for the care of stroke patients in Germany came to 7.1 billion euro. The neurologist Tobias Neumann-Haefelin of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and his colleagues have calculated the projected number of strokes in the German federal state of Hesse for the year 2050.
Not only for green tea fanciers. A recent study published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation shows that drinking green tea improves the function of cells lining the vascular system and therefore protect vessels from atherosclerosis, reported the European Society of Cardiology.
A five-year study of 516 participants with coronary artery disease showed that patients who reduced their anxiety levels or kept them steady were 60% less likely to have a heart attack or die compared with those who had increased anxiety levels.
Along with paediatric radiology, interventional radiology will have a high profile at the 89th German Radiology Congress and 5th Joint Congress with the Austrian Radiology Society. During a discussion with Meike Lerner of European Hospital congress president Professor Dierk Vorwerk outlined what's on the agenda for the expected 6,900 visitors.
The USA's National Institutes of Health aims to review blood transfusion safety
During a Toshiba press conference on Monday at ECR 2008, Prof P. Rogalla Chief Radiologist CT and Prof R. Klingebiehl, Department of Neuroradiology both of the Charité University Hospital, Berlin (Germany), reported about the new diagnostic opportunities the company's latest innovation — the Aquillion ONE - offers.
According to a recently published study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, a vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) examination can be used to measure abdominal aortic calcification (AAC). The level of AAC can predict the likelihood of myocardial infarction as well as stroke among elderly women, independent of other clinical risk factors.
A new research collaboration to study the potential of microbubbles and ultrasound to treat ischemic strokes has been established between ImaRx Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutal company in Tucson, Arizona, and the Philips' Medical Systems division in Andover, Massachusetts.
Over 15 million people are affected by strokes annually, and about five million of these (source: WHO 2004) are left with lasting damage.
Ischaemic stroke accounts for 80-85% of all cerebrovascular accidents and causes considerable morbidity and mortality, thereby placing a significant burden on western societies. In the UK alone, stroke costs amount to 10.4 billion EUR annually. These events commonly are a consequence of systemic atherosclerotic disease and with the internal carotid arteries supplying 75% of cerebral blood flow,…
Endovascular therapy of diseases of the brain-supplying blood vessels has recently sparked new interest. Hundreds of these minimally invasive and often operation-substituting interventions are now being performed annually at neuroradiological centers. The most impressive results in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms are achieved using coil embolization. Endovascular therapy has been lound to…
What is an “open foramen ovale”? The open foramen ovale medical abbreviation PFO for “patent foramen ovale”) is a usually small, only a few millimeter thick, membrane-covered slit in the septum between the atria of the heart. It is a remnant from human embryonic development that usually closes during the newborn period; however, in 10-25% of newborns a small opening remains that generally…
Diagnostic imaging is of particular value in investigating ischaemic cerebrovascular accidents since, due to the rapid progression of cell destruction in the region of the cerebral infarction, the radiologist is faced with urgent questions regarding a possible procedure. These questions may be answered particularly well using computed tomography (CT). The following article provides an overview…
In the past, native computed tomography of the neurocranium (CCT) was often the only procedure to diagnose a stroke. Technical limitations of previous generations of scanners made their use impractical for complementary methods of visualising blood vessels or for perfusion imaging. With the introduction of multi-slice spiral CT these technical limitations disappeared and both perfusion CT (PCT)…
A joint project of more than 30 European stroke units just started to examine a potential connection between Fabry disease and stroke in young patients. The results of the worldwide SIFAP (Stroke in Young Fabry Patients) study might give an explanation for some of the 25% of strokes with unknown origin in patients aged 18-55 years.
If something doesn't fit we make it fit, and if it doesn't exist we invent it: Pragmatism combined with imagination and idealism are the foundation stones of groundbreaking inventions that improve daily life in medicine.
The debate between carotid artery stenting (CAS) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA) - the surgical approach - for treating a narrowing of the carotid artery in the neck to prevent stroke has tipped in favour of the more proven procedure of operation.
Earlier disease detection will save healthcare services
