Sperm Donor Passed On Sudden Demise Heart Defect
Two children, both now teenagers, have developed symptoms and are at risk for sudden cardiac death, the report says. Its the second documented instance of a genetic condition being inherited through sperm donation.
The latest case highlights the importance of thoroughly screening sperm donors, according to the report and an editorial published with it in Wednesdays Journal of the American Medical Association.
The San Francisco sperm bank involved now gives all donors electrocardiogram tests to weed out men with genetic heart problems; the study authors recommend that other sperm banks follow suit.
Voluntary sperm bank guidelines say donors should be required to provide [...]
Study: Heart Failure Drug Guidelines Often Ignored
Only one-third of 12,565 patients eligible for the drugs got them - even though they were treated at 201 hospitals that had voluntarily enrolled in the American Heart Associations Get with the Guidelines program.
Reasons why so few doctors “got with the program” are unclear. But the study authors offered some theories, from lack of marketing for the decades-old drugs to concerns about their safety.
The main drug studied, spironolactone, is a water pill that helps prevent kidneys from absorbing too much sodium, which can lead to excess fluid. In heart failure, water often builds up in lungs, blood and tissue because [...]
Scientists Grow Mice Heart Muscle Strip That Beats
Lots of work remains before trying that dramatic an experiment in people. But regenerating damaged heart muscle is a holy grail in cardiac care.
Doctors today have lots of treatments to prevent a heart attack. But once one strikes, theres no way to restore the heart muscle it kills. Gradually the weakened heart quits pumping properly, leading to deadly heart failure.
Hence the focus on embryonic stem cells, master cells that can give rise to any tissue in the body. Until now, scientists havent known how to coax those cells into producing pure cardiac muscle.
Instead, researchers have tried injecting heart attack survivors [...]
Merck Paying More Than 3,100 Fatality Claims In Vioxx Settlement
The fund will pay about 3,000 claims for heart attack deaths and at least 122 strokes, according to BrownGreer LLP, a claims administrator appointed by both sides. Merck introduced Vioxx in 1999 and withdrew it in 2004 when a study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Merck set up the fund, which covers claims of death and lesser injuries, in 2007 after reserving $1.9 billion to fight 26,600 Vioxx suits.
“We dont know any drug right now with this number of deaths [...]
Lilly, Daiichis Anti-clotting Drug Has Lower Costs Than Plavix
The Lilly-Daiichi drug, Effient, had an average cost savings of $221 per patient over the course of a 15-month study, said David Cohen, director of research at Saint Lukes Mid American Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, in a presentation today at a heart-device conference. The savings figures took into account the cost of hospital care, heart surgeries and other procedures, along with the cost of the drugs themselves, said Cohen, the studys lead investigator.
Effient was approved in the U.S. in July for the prevention of [...]
High-fructose Diet Raises Blood Pressure In Middle-aged Men
Men in the study who ate a high-fructose diet had their blood pressure rise about 5 percent after two weeks, while those who also were given a gout treatment increased less than 1 percent, study author Richard Johnson said. Eating great amounts of fructose without the treatment also raised the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors associated with the development of heart disease and diabetes.
The study is one of the first to show that consuming foods high in fructose raises blood pressure [...]
Flu May Trigger Heart Attacks Say Researchers Who Urge Shots
A review of 39 studies conducted from 1932 to 2008 found consistent links between influenza and major heart attacks, bolstering previous observations that the heart can be damaged in patients with influenza, according to the report in Lancet Infectious Diseases.
People at risk for heart attacks, including those with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, should get vaccinated against influenza, said the researchers led by Andrew Hayward from University College Londons Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology. While the immunization is recommended for people with chronic conditions, fewer than half [...]
Study: Flu Viruses Can Spark Heart Attacks
Amid the global outbreak of swine flu, experts say its crucial that heart patients get vaccinated against both regular flu and swine flu to avoid medical problems. Doctors said swine flu isnt any more dangerous than regular flu, but its important for heart patients to get vaccinated because more flu viruses will be circulating this year.
British researchers analyzed 39 previous studies of heart patients and found a consistent link between flu and heart attacks. Up to half of all unexpected flu deaths were due to heart disease, the researchers found.
The study was published online Tuesday in the British medical journal, [...]
Statin Cuts Heart Problems After Artery Surgery
Patients given Lescol had half the risk of having a heart attack or dying of a heart problem in the following month compared to those given dummy pills, the study found.
“You get a bonus with the treatment of statins,” said Dr. Don Poldermans, who led the study at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The results are in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine.
Statins are widely prescribed to reduce cholesterol and prevent heart disease. Doctors wanted to see if statins could also protect against heart problems that are a common complication of blood vessel surgery - operations like [...]
Immediate Intervention For Heart Patients Similar to Waiting
Performing artery-clearing procedures such as angioplasty or inserting a stent in people when they come to the hospital emergency room had similar results as waiting a day, the study found. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found little difference in heart muscle damage among patients whether they were given procedures 70 minutes or 21 hours after admission.
The findings go against a common view that delaying treatment for a suspected heart attack will lead to poor outcomes. The study shows that waiting [...]