Researchers have long sought to find a reliable way to see inside the human heart without having to insert tubes, inject dyes or expose patients to potentially dangerous radiation. One possible solution is the whole-heart MRI, which provides 3-D images of the heart and its blood vessels without the risk of an invasive procedure.
A new combination of a potent anticoagulant and an antidote that stops its action, has proved to be safe in its first clinical trial in humans, according to the team conducting the trial.
Johns Hopkins scientists have successfully grown large numbers of stem cells taken from adult pigs’ healthy heart tissue and used the cells to repair some of the tissue damage done to those organs by lab-induced heart attacks. Pigs’ hearts closely resemble those in humans, making them a useful model in such research.
Tiny bits of RNA — a chemical cousin of DNA — play a large role in causing enlargement of the heart, which is a major risk factor for heart failure and sudden death, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered.
People who are depressed have an increased risk of dying from heart failure, and a new study by Duke University Medical Center researchers may help explain why.
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.
The science of cancer prevention has advanced to the point where researchers now say they can detect ?cancer genes? in the breath of smokers, and can test the presence of two proteins in men they say will predict development of prostate cancer a decade in advance. All of these novel findings need much more examination, of course, but scientists at the American Association for Cancer Research?s Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting, say these examples illustrate how it is becoming increasingly possible to use genes and their protein products to help predict and diagnose cancer, as well as choose therapy that offers the most potential for a good result. These researchers will also discuss a test that can pick out patients who have pancreatic cancer – an advance that offers hope the disease can be treated at earlier stages than it is now – and how several unique genes can predict which prostate cancer or lung cancer patients will develop aggressive tumors that need additional treatment. Cancer is a disease of genes, they say, so genes can be employed as a crystal ball to thwart the disease.
Women with systemic lupus who become pregnant are at significantly greater risk for death or other medical complications than are pregnant women without lupus, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found in a nationwide study of more than 18 million women.
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.
Systolic blood pressure, a readily available vital sign taken at hospital admission, has been found to be a key factor in predicting mortality risk and revealing important disease characteristics for heart failure patients, according to a team of academic researchers.