Surgeons at the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center in Houston were among the first in the U.S. to implant a new vascular graft engineered to reduce the risk of blood clots in patients treated for peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which affects as many as 12 million Americans over the age of 50.
Scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues at four other medical centers have launched a $10 million multi-year study to identify genes that may contribute to early atherosclerosis.
Another late-breaker presented here was the appropriately named CHICAGO Study, in which 462 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomly selected at Chicago heart clinics to receive treatment with pioglitazone or with glimepriride.
Researchers today presented data showing that ACTOS (pioglitazone HCl) halted the progression of atherosclerosis as measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Results from the clinical trial, CHICAGO (Carotid intima-media thickness in Atherosclerosis using pioglitazone), are part of a late-breaker presentation at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006, coincidentally being held in Chicago, and coincide with an early online issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A drug commonly used to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin may slow the progression of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
Working with dogs and using the latest in imaging software and machinery, also known as a 64-slice CT scanner, Johns Hopkins heart specialists have developed a fast and accurate means of tracking blood that has been slowed down by narrowing of the coronary arteries. Researchers say it took them less than half the time of exercise stress tests and echocardiograms currently used to find early warning of vessels more likely to become blocked and cause heart attack.
Dancing improves ability to function and quality of life among chronic heart failure patients and may be a good alternative to other aerobic exercises, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006.
Children with risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol levels already show signs of fatty build-up in their arteries that could lead to heart attack in adulthood, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006.
Two drugs that a Wake Forest University School of Medicine research team has been investigating for lupus for several years may stabilize atherosclerotic plaque in the walls of arteries and help avert heart attacks and strokes.
Abdominal obesity increased more than 65 percent among boys and almost 70 percent among girls between 1988 and 2004. The finding of growing girth is significant because abdominal obesity has emerged as a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk than the more commonly used Body Mass Index, a weight-to-height ratio that can sometimes be misleading.