Heart attacks, disease, research & treatment

[waltky]

Rare Surgical Infection at New Orleans Children's Hospital...

Child Heart Patients Treated for Rare Surgical Infection
September 12, 2017 — At least a dozen children who had heart surgery at Children's Hospital New Orleans between late May and July have infected incisions, apparently from contaminated equipment.

The hospital's chief medical officer says the infections were linked to a machine that regulates a patient's temperature during heart surgery. Dr. John Heaton says the machine was replaced and patients are responding to intravenous antibiotics.

He says a handful who haven't shown symptoms will see doctors this week, to make sure. Heaton says the hospital's paying for treatment and related costs, such as parents' hotel rooms and meals.

An operating room is seen through a window at a sanitizing station in New Orleans.​

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the bacteria in question as common in water, soil and dust. It says contaminated medical devices can infect the skin and soft tissues under the skin.

Child Heart Patients Treated for Rare Surgical Infection

 

[Mousterian]

We are headed back to the days a couple of hundred years ago, when people were afraid to go to hospitals because of the risk of infection. The number of resistant infections is growing, and the wonderful free-market we enjoy ensures that Big Pharma won't invest in antibiotic research, because, if they find a good alternative, it will be used very sparingly, and will take many years to return a dividend.
A good case for Government investment. Guess we'll have to wait for a Government who cares about people...

 

[waltky]

Some Breast Cancer Therapies Put Heart at Risk...

Doctors Warn of Heart Risk From Some Breast Cancer Therapies
February 01, 2018 - Save your life but harm your heart? Health experts are sounding a warning as potential side effects of a growing number of breast cancer treatments come to light.

In its first statement on the topic, the American Heart Association on Thursday said women should consider carefully the risks and benefits of any therapies that may hurt hearts. Not all treatments carry these risks, and there may be ways to minimize or avoid some. "We want patients to get the best treatment for their breast cancer," said Dr. Laxmi Mehta, a women's heart health expert at Ohio State University who led the panel that wrote the statement. "Everyone should have a conversation with their doctor about what are the side effects."

Chapel Hill, N.C. Health experts are stepping up warnings as more cardiac side effects of some breast cancer treatments come to light. In its first guidance on the issue, released on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, the American Heart Association urges that women and their doctors carefully weigh the risks and benefits of any therapy that may cause heart damage.​

There are more than 3 million breast cancer survivors and nearly 48 million women with heart disease in the United States. "Most people with breast cancer fear death from breast cancer. Even after they survive that, they still fear it," but heart disease is more likely to kill them, especially after age 65, Mehta said. Some treatments for other types of cancer may pose heart risks, but they are growing more common for breast cancer patients and the statement addressed only that form of the disease. Here are some questions and answers:

Q: What are the problems and which treatments can cause them?

A: Side effects can include abnormal rhythms, valve problems or heart failure, where the heart slowly weakens and can't pump effectively. Symptoms may not appear until long after treatment ends. Herceptin and similar drugs for a specific type of breast cancer can cause heart failure. Sometimes it's temporary and goes away if treatment is stopped, but it can be permanent. Radiation can affect arteries and spur narrowing or blockages. Other drugs can lead to abnormal heart rhythms or artery spasms, which can cause chest pain and possibly lead to a heart attack. Still others can damage DNA.

Some research suggests that powerful new drugs that harness the immune system to fight cancer may, in rare cases, cause heart damage, especially when used together. "The problem is, no one has this on their radar," so patients are not routinely checked for it, Dr. Javid Moslehi, head of a Vanderbilt University clinic specializing in heart risks from cancer therapies, said when a study reported this problem about a year ago.

Q: What can be done to avoid harm?

 

[Dalia]

Some Breast Cancer Therapies Put Heart at Risk...

Doctors Warn of Heart Risk From Some Breast Cancer Therapies
February 01, 2018 - Save your life but harm your heart? Health experts are sounding a warning as potential side effects of a growing number of breast cancer treatments come to light.

In its first statement on the topic, the American Heart Association on Thursday said women should consider carefully the risks and benefits of any therapies that may hurt hearts. Not all treatments carry these risks, and there may be ways to minimize or avoid some. "We want patients to get the best treatment for their breast cancer," said Dr. Laxmi Mehta, a women's heart health expert at Ohio State University who led the panel that wrote the statement. "Everyone should have a conversation with their doctor about what are the side effects."

Chapel Hill, N.C. Health experts are stepping up warnings as more cardiac side effects of some breast cancer treatments come to light. In its first guidance on the issue, released on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, the American Heart Association urges that women and their doctors carefully weigh the risks and benefits of any therapy that may cause heart damage.​

There are more than 3 million breast cancer survivors and nearly 48 million women with heart disease in the United States. "Most people with breast cancer fear death from breast cancer. Even after they survive that, they still fear it," but heart disease is more likely to kill them, especially after age 65, Mehta said. Some treatments for other types of cancer may pose heart risks, but they are growing more common for breast cancer patients and the statement addressed only that form of the disease. Here are some questions and answers:

Q: What are the problems and which treatments can cause them?

A: Side effects can include abnormal rhythms, valve problems or heart failure, where the heart slowly weakens and can't pump effectively. Symptoms may not appear until long after treatment ends. Herceptin and similar drugs for a specific type of breast cancer can cause heart failure. Sometimes it's temporary and goes away if treatment is stopped, but it can be permanent. Radiation can affect arteries and spur narrowing or blockages. Other drugs can lead to abnormal heart rhythms or artery spasms, which can cause chest pain and possibly lead to a heart attack. Still others can damage DNA.

Some research suggests that powerful new drugs that harness the immune system to fight cancer may, in rare cases, cause heart damage, especially when used together. "The problem is, no one has this on their radar," so patients are not routinely checked for it, Dr. Javid Moslehi, head of a Vanderbilt University clinic specializing in heart risks from cancer therapies, said when a study reported this problem about a year ago.

Q: What can be done to avoid harm?

I know a woman who survived breast cancer at 70, she did treatments, she also suffered a strong woman, I hope that she can live long now, what is written makes me a little afraid for her.

 

[waltky]

Even low air pollution may damage heart...

Low levels of air pollution linked to changes in the heart
3 Aug.`18 - Regular exposure to even low levels of air pollution may cause changes to the heart similar to those in the early stages of heart failure, experts say.

A study of 4,000 people in the UK found those who lived by loud, busy roads had larger hearts on average than those living in less polluted areas. This was despite the fact people in the study were exposed to pollution levels below the UK guidelines. Researchers called on the government to reduce air pollution more quickly. A team of scientists, led from Queen Mary University of London, analysed health data of people who had no underlying heart problems and were part of the UK Biobank study, including the size, weight and function of their hearts.

Researchers also looked at the pollution levels in the areas they lived in. Their study found a clear link between exposure to higher pollution levels and larger right and left ventricles - important pumping chambers in the heart. For every extra one microgram per cubic metre of PM2.5 - small particles of air pollution - and for every 10 extra micrograms per cubic metre of nitrogen dioxide, the heart enlarged by about 1%. The changes were comparable to being consistently inactive or having elevated blood pressure, said Dr Nay Aung, who led the study's data analysis. "Air pollution should be seen as a modifiable risk factor," he said. "Doctors and the general public all need to be aware of their exposure when they think about their heart health, just like they think about their blood pressure, their cholesterol and their weight."

While the exact locations where people lived were not included in the study, most were outside of the major UK cities and all of them were exposed to levels of PM2.5 air pollution well below current UK limits. In the study, average annual exposures to PM2.5 ranged from eight to 12 micrograms per cubic metre. This is lower than the UK limits of 25 micrograms per cubic metre but closer to the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 10 micrograms per cubic metre. This fine particle pollution is particularly dangerous because it can penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system.

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Diesel cars are a big contributor of air pollution​

Exposure to nitrogen dioxide in the study ranged from 10-50 micrograms per cubic metre - the UK and WHO limits are 40 micrograms per cubic metre. Dr Aung said the changes in the heart were small and potentially reversible. But he said the fact any change at all was detectable suggested even relatively low levels of air pollution may have a harmful effect on health. "If you think the current levels of air pollution are safe, then in theory we shouldn't be able to detect any changes," Dr Aung added.

'Can't expect people to move'

 

[waltky]

Multi-gene Test May Find Risk for Heart Disease and More...

Multi-gene Test May Find Risk for Heart Disease and More
August 13, 2018 | WASHINGTON — You know your cholesterol, your blood pressure ... your heart gene score? Researchers say a new way of analyzing genetic test data may one day help identify people at high risk of a youthful heart attack in time to help.

Today, gene testing mostly focuses on rare mutations in one or a few genes, like those that cause cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease, or the BRCA gene responsible for a small fraction of breast cancer. It is less useful for some of the most common diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes, because they are influenced by vast numbers of genes-gone-wrong working together in complicated ways. Monday, researchers reported a new way to measure millions of small genetic variations that add up to cause harm, letting them calculate someone’s inherited risk for the most common form of heart disease and four other serious disorders. The potential cardiac impact: They estimated that up to 25 million Americans may have triple the average person’s risk for coronary artery disease even if they haven’t yet developed warning signs like high cholesterol. “What I foresee is in five years, each person will know this risk number, this ‘polygenic risk score,’ similar to the way each person knows his or her cholesterol,” said Dr. Sekar Kathiresan who led the research team from the Broad Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

If the approach pans out and doctors adopt it, a bad score wouldn’t mean you’d get a disease, just that your genetic makeup increases the chance — one more piece of information in deciding care. For example, when the researchers tested the system using a DNA database from Britain, less than 1 percent of people with the lowest risk scores were diagnosed with coronary artery disease, compared to 11 percent of people with the highest risk score. “There are things you can do to lower the risk,” Kathiresan said — the usual advice about diet, exercise, cholesterol medication and not smoking helps. On the flip side, a low-risk score “doesn’t give you a free pass,” he added. An unhealthy lifestyle could overwhelm the protection of good genes.

Stephanie Richurk, a nurse at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, sorts blood samples collected from participants in the "All of Us" research program in Pittsburgh​

The scoring system also can predict an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, breast cancer and an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, the team reported in the journal Nature Genetics — noting that next steps include learning what might likewise lower those risks. It doesn’t require the most sophisticated type of genetic testing. Instead, Kathiresan can calculate risk scores for those five diseases — eventually maybe more — simply by reanalyzing the kind of raw data people receive after sending a cheek swab to companies like 23andMe. A geneticist who specializes in cardiovascular disease, he hopes to open a website where people can send in such data to learn their heart risk, as part of continuing research. Kathiresan and co-author Dr. Amit Khera, a Mass General cardiologist, are co-inventors on a patent application for the system.

Other scientists and companies have long sought ways to measure risk from multiple, additive gene effects — the “poly” in polygenic — and Myriad Genetics has begun selling a type of polygenic test for breast cancer risk. But specialists in heart disease and genetics who weren’t involved with the research called the new findings exciting because of their scope. “The results should be eye-opening for cardiologists,” said Dr. Charles C. Hong, director of cardiovascular research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “The only disappointment is that this score applies only to those with European ancestry, so I wonder if similar scores are in the works for the large majority of the world population that is not white.”

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