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New ESC-ESH guidelines on arterial hypertension

In 2000, 26% (972million) of the adult population worldwide had hypertension and this figure is estimated to rise by 2025 to 1.56billion.

3 Sep 2007

Symposium on children born with clubfoot

We often think that high-tech, surgical methods are the best approach when it comes to medical care. But for children born with clubfoot, there is growing, worldwide interest in a low-tech, non-surgical method of treatment that is more effective, less expensive and easier to provide than surgery.

3 Sep 2007

How to influence the risk profile of a nation

Professor Geoffrey Rose was a pioneer in the field of prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD). He emphasized in his works how CHD prevention calls for general reduction in risk factor levels in the population, i.e. population based approach. Geoffrey Rose wrote: "It makes little sense to expect individuals to behave differently form their peers, it is more appropriate to seek a general change in behavioural norms and in the circumstances which facilitate their adoption."

3 Sep 2007

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal defect (ASD) closure

A PFO and an ASD are congenital structural heart diseases characterized by a communication between heart chambers at the level of the wall (septum) separating them. These chambers are the left and right atrium as shown on the picture below. The right atrium receives (dark) oxygen-depleted blood from the great veins, while the left atrium receives (red) oxygen-rich blood from the lungs.

3 Sep 2007

The goals of platelet inhibition in acute coronary syndromes

Platelet activation and aggregation play important roles in the pathogenesis of cardiac ischemic events after either spontaneous plaque disruption in acute coronary syndromes or mechanical disruption of coronary artery plaques caused by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which could be considered an artificially induced acute coronary syndrome.

3 Sep 2007

Left main stem angioplasty

The left main coronary artery supplies at least two thirds of the hearts blood supply. When it becomes narrowed it causes large areas of the heart to malfunction with subsequent severe anginal chest pain and breathlessness. Occlusion of the left main coronary is usually fatal within a matter of seconds.

3 Sep 2007

Immediate emergency angioplasty can save the lives of those experiencing MI

We have demonstrated that patients who have an acute myocardial infarction and are admitted to a hospital which has no possibility to perform direct angioplasty, benefit from being transferred immediately after having received thrombolytics to a hospital where angioplasty (percutaneous coronary intervention, PCI, often including stent implantation) can be immediately performed.

3 Sep 2007

Do we harm women when we treat them in the same way as men?

Half of the female population in the western world die of cardiovascular disease. Neither the women themselves, nor society at large recognizes this fact. Maybe because of this, research on women with acute coronary syndromes is scarce and thus we lack knowledge about the best way to properly treat women with an acute myocardial infarction.

3 Sep 2007

How to optimally prepare a patient for planned coronary angiography and subsequent angioplasty?

A Czech study compared two anti-clotting treatment regimens, currently used before coronary angiography / angioplasty to find the optimal balance between preventing ischemic versus bleeding complications of these procedures. The study was conducted in five Czech tertiary cardiology centers.

3 Sep 2007

Blood-flow detector software shows promise in preventing brain damage

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Cambridge University in England have designed an automated means of continuously tracking potentially dangerous changes in blood flow to the brain in real time, a system that shows promise for preventing brain damage and death in children with head injuries.

3 Sep 2007

First European guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease

Today valve disease still represents an important health problem; valve patients are getting older and older with more and more comorbities, which contribute to increased operative risk and render the decision-making process more difficult.

3 Sep 2007

Guidelines on the management of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes

New guidelines for the management of non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) were released by the European Society of Cardiology in June 2007 replacing previous guidelines of 2002.

3 Sep 2007

New ESC CVD prevention guidelines provide the key to maintaining a healthy heart

The new (Fourth) Joint European Society's Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in clinical practice were launched at the ESC Annual Conference today.

3 Sep 2007

DES: friend or foe?

The current FDA approved stents (CYPHER and TAXUS) have been associated with late stent thrombosis (LST) (>30days following implantation) however, the mechanisms predictive of LST are poorly understood. Pathologic studies are one of the best methods for detailed analysis of morphologic changes that occur after placement of Drug Eluting Stents to determine the causes of LST.

3 Sep 2007

3,000 kidney transplants performed at NYP/Weill Cornell

More than 3,000 lives have been saved through the kidney transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and its medical partner The Rogosin Institute.

2 Sep 2007

The burden of diabetes in heart disease in Europe

Diabetes is becoming one of the major health problems in the European and US populations. It is frequently associated with overweight, hypertension and high serum cholesterol levels, representing a dangerous combination of risk factors for the development of heart and vascular diseases.

2 Sep 2007

Risk stratification in acute heart failure

Hospitalization for acute heart failure is the most relevant burden for the health systems in both Europe and North America. Despite its dramatic impact on patient survival, quality of life and health costs, relatively few studies have been conducted in patients with this clinical condition in order to identify effective therapeutic strategies able to improve not only symptoms but also patient survival.

2 Sep 2007

Long term follow up of additional Swedish registry data does not indicate an increased

Four years of follow up including additional patients in the Swedish Coronary angiography and angioplasty registry (SCAAR) does no longer indicate any increased mortality in patients treated with drug eluting stents compared to patients treated with bare metal stents.

2 Sep 2007

Blood pressure drugs cut death rate in diabetes

The largest-ever study of treatments for diabetes has shown that a fixed combination of two blood pressure lowering drugs reduces the risk of death, as well as the risks of heart and kidney disease. Results from the ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease) Study were presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007 in Vienna.

2 Sep 2007

The first clinically available oral direct renin inhibitor shows promise in heart failure

Drugs that block a hormonal cascade, known as the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), help patients with heart failure. Direct renin inhibitors (DRIs) block the RAAS at its first and rate-limiting step.

2 Sep 2007