Heart Failure News and Research

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Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which a problem with the structure or function of the heart impairs its ability to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the body's needs. It should not be confused with cardiac arrest or myocardial infarction.

Arrow LionHeart heart-assist device patient receives heart transplant

Gayle Snider, the first U.S. patient to go home from the hospital with an Arrow LionHeart heart-assist device, received a heart transplant Saturday, May 22, at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

23 May 2004

Pacemaker-type device and medicines reduce hospital stays and death rates

A nationwide clinical trial of more than 1,600 heart failure patients showed that when medicines are combined with the use of a pacemaker-type device that resynchronizes both sides of the heart, hospital stays and death rates drop significantly.

20 May 2004

Study has important implications for African Americans who suffer from high blood pressure

A new study has important implications for the millions of African Americans who suffer from high blood pressure. The study, AADVANCE, shows Diovan HCT(R) (valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide) lowers blood pressure in African Americans to aggressive recommended target blood pressure goals as effectively as amlodipine.

20 May 2004

CRT implantable defibrillators significantly reduce hospitalization rates and extend lives

Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center have announced the findings of a large-scale clinical trial for patients with late-stage heart failure. Results showed that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) from implantable pacemaker-like devices or CRT combined with an implantable defibrillator (CRT-D), when used in addition to optimal drug therapy, reduced significantly the mortality and first hospitalization rate when compared to drug therapy alone. CRT-D also substantially lowered mortality.

19 May 2004

Financially burdened patients more likely to die after coronary revascularization

Heart patients who had angioplasty or bypass surgery and felt burdened by medical costs were more than twice as likely to die within a year of their procedure as patients who didn’t have trouble paying for healthcare, according to a study presented today at the American Heart Association’s 5th annual Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

19 May 2004

Blood pressure control of people 80 years and older, especially women, must be made a national priority

Blood pressure control of people 80 years and older, especially women, must be made a national priority, urged a Northwestern University researcher at the American Society of Hypertension’s Nineteenth Annual Scientific Meeting.

19 May 2004

Study comparing the efficacy of REMICADE® to Azathioprine alone and in combination With REMICADE®

Centocor, Inc., and Schering-Plough Corporation announced today the initiation of the SONIC (Study of Immunomodulator Naive patients in Crohn's Disease) trial that will evaluate the efficacy of REMICADE® (infliximab) versus azathioprine, a conventional immunosuppressive agent, alone and versus the combination of both drugs for the treatment of patients with Crohn's disease.

18 May 2004

End-of-life options for seriously ill patients have improved considerably, but still have a ways ago

End-of-life options for seriously ill patients have improved considerably, but still have a ways ago, says a national expert who drew upon the recent experience of his father’s death to take stock of the status of end-of-life care in the United States.

14 May 2004

Embryonic stem cells may hold the key to regenerating damaged heart muscle

Embryonic stem cells may hold the key to regenerating damaged heart muscle, when transplanted within a 3-dimensional scaffold into the infracted heart, according to a new study coming out in June in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

14 May 2004

Mechanism that prevents kidney damage in the early stages of diabetes associated with obesity

Northwestern University researchers has identified what they believe is a built-in biological mechanism that prevents kidney damage in the early stages of diabetes associated with obesity.

14 May 2004

Thoratec gets FDA approval for increased enrollment and Medicare expansion for heart pump

Thoratec Corporation, a manufacturer of products to treat cardiovascular disease, has announced the expansion of its Phase I feasibility trial for the HeartMate(R) II left ventricular assist system (LVAS).

12 May 2004

Heart pumps better than medical therapy in keeping heart failure patients alive

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) – heart pumps – worked better than medical therapy in keeping seriously ill congestive heart failure patients alive, despite an increased risk of neurological complications, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

6 May 2004

LVAD heart pumps improve survival in congestive heart failure patients

Despite a risk of stroke, left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) – heart pumps – work better than medical therapy in keeping seriously ill congestive heart failure patients alive, according to Columbia researchers.

4 May 2004

Almost half of the heart failure outpatients given standard questionnaires scored as being depressed

Almost half of the heart failure outpatients given standard questionnaires scored as being depressed, according to a new study in the May 5, 2004 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

4 May 2004

New research could reduce risk of strokes in younger people

The study published in this month's edition of the international journal Stroke is the first to provide evidence that blood vessels elsewhere in the body, apart from the brain, in CADASIL sufferers are abnormal in over-constricting in response to the hormone Angiotensin II.

1 May 2004

Elderly black male cancer patients stay in hospital longer than white

The risk of death from cancer increases sharply after 50 years of age and most cancers occur in middle-aged and older persons. The incidence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and thyroid cancer are increasing along with the nation’s population of elderly Americans.

30 Apr 2004

Increased blood levels of a heart cell “stress” protein called ST2 were linked to a higher risk of death

Increased blood levels of a heart cell “stress” protein called ST2 were linked to a higher risk of death and congestive heart failure in the 30 days after a heart attack, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

29 Apr 2004

Time bomb in heart leads to heart failure in some congenital heart disease patients

However, surgical correction of certain forms of congenital heart disease may not fix the underlying molecular trigger that drives progressive heart failure and sudden death later in life, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.

29 Apr 2004

Study finds America’s hospital emergency rooms are overcrowded with patients

America’s hospital emergency rooms are overcrowded with patients who may be better served in doctors’ offices or other clinic settings, according to a national study of insured emergency patients conducted by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation on Health Care and the Schneider Institute for Health Policy at Brandeis University.

28 Apr 2004

Bypass surgery results in better five-year survival than balloon angioplasty and stent procedures

Bypass surgery results in better five-year survival than balloon angioplasty and stent procedures for patients with serious coronary artery disease and additional health conditions such as diabetes

28 Apr 2004

Heart Failure News and Research

Further Reading

Arrow LionHeart heart-assist device patient receives heart transplant

Pacemaker-type device and medicines reduce hospital stays and death rates

Study has important implications for African Americans who suffer from high blood pressure

CRT implantable defibrillators significantly reduce hospitalization rates and extend lives

Financially burdened patients more likely to die after coronary revascularization

Blood pressure control of people 80 years and older, especially women, must be made a national priority

Study comparing the efficacy of REMICADE® to Azathioprine alone and in combination With REMICADE®

End-of-life options for seriously ill patients have improved considerably, but still have a ways ago

Embryonic stem cells may hold the key to regenerating damaged heart muscle

Mechanism that prevents kidney damage in the early stages of diabetes associated with obesity

Thoratec gets FDA approval for increased enrollment and Medicare expansion for heart pump

Heart pumps better than medical therapy in keeping heart failure patients alive

LVAD heart pumps improve survival in congestive heart failure patients

Almost half of the heart failure outpatients given standard questionnaires scored as being depressed

New research could reduce risk of strokes in younger people

Elderly black male cancer patients stay in hospital longer than white

Increased blood levels of a heart cell “stress” protein called ST2 were linked to a higher risk of death

Time bomb in heart leads to heart failure in some congenital heart disease patients

Study finds America’s hospital emergency rooms are overcrowded with patients

Bypass surgery results in better five-year survival than balloon angioplasty and stent procedures

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