A poor heart leads to rapid aging of your brain
A new study published in CIRCULATION on Aug 2, 2010 has correlated diminished heart function with accelerated brain aging. By comparing MRIs of the heart and brain, the authors found that poor heart function is associated with diminished brain volumes, an indicator of aging, especially in younger patients. Likewise, patients with normal heart function had a significantly higher total brain …
More about Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
While the buzz in treatment for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is all about Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) or “Stenting”, relatively little information about Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) is available. CABG, despite often being labeled as painful, expensive and risky, is in many ways the opposite: an efficient method of returning blood flow to the heart back to normal. Relatively …
Patients with renal failure and CAD
I just posted a review of two articles about the treatment of Coronary Artery Disease in patients with kidney failure. The more I read about results of Stent treatment for CAD, the more I learn about situations where it doesn’t work as well as it should. In particular this is the case in Diabetes, Renal failure and patients with impaired …
Stenting in other arteries
I just learned about a snag. Somebody commented after completion of one of the questionnaires on my website: “my step sister has multiple stents in the femoral arteries in the legs and is currently experiencing great pain in the leg again. The ultrasound shows the stent is intact and working properly.” This website is of course about coronary artery, not …
Point-Counter Point
Two new articles, published in the July edition of Clinical Research in Cardiology, provide a point-counter point perspective by cardiac surgeons and cardiologists. In them, the proponents used the SYNTAX trial to argue their points. Not surprisingly, the authors reached opposite conclusions. Now, how is that possible? In “Patients should be operated!” Reichenspurner and colleagues argue that “…clinical trials, both …
New Questionnaires
Tomorrow you’ll find updated questionnaires on this website. I re-designed the one already there, and added two others: No. 1 is for patients with issues about their treatment; No. 2 is a Risk assessment for developing CAD and stroke; No. 3 is an analysis tool for evaluation of chest pain. As you may have noticed from previous blogs, treatment for …
Stents Downgraded by Wall Street Journal: If Only It Were That Simple
Attn: Burt Cohen Re: Stents Downgraded by Wall Street Journal: If Only It Were That Simple. Dear Mr Cohen, Like you I responded to the article “A Simple Health-Care Fix Fizzles Out” by Keith Winstein of the WSJ, dd 2/22/2010: However, unlike you, I drew somewhat different conclusions: RE: WSJ Simplifies Study Results by Ignoring Key Issues … you define …
A patient with Coronary Artery Disease
I thought to post a recent evaluation of a patient who contacted me for consultation: Mrs. XYZ, DOB: 1955 57 years old White Female, with low level Angina and progressive loss of exercise tolerance (fatigue, “can’t do much anymore”). (A significant factor in her care may well have included no health insurance, even though she rendered full payments at the …
The Dangers of Surgery after Stenting
In a new article the risks of non-cardiac surgery from within 6 weeks up to a year after placement of a coronary artery stent are discussed. The authors conclude that other surgery can be quite dangerous, presumably because medications, needed to keep the stent open, have to be stopped to avoid the risk of bleeding during the procedure. It has …