Clogged arteries pose different dangers for men, women (USA)

Not all clogged arteries are created equal, with women and men facing different heart risks even when they have the same amount of coronary plaque, a new study suggests. Analyzing the results of coronary CT angiographies - non-invasive tests that look for coronary artery blockages - in 480 patients with acute chest pain, scientists from the Medical University of South Carolina found that the risk of major cardiac events was significantly higher in women when they had a large amount of plaque buildup and extensive hardening of the arteries. On the other hand, men faced greater risks of heart attack or coronary bypass surgery when their arteries contained "non-calcified plaque," fatty deposits that accumulate deep in artery walls. While the study didn't specifically quantify the risks of each scenario for men and women, it may be valuable to physicians ordering tests for heart patients in distress, said study author Dr. John Nance Jr., a radiology resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore

Cardiac imaging breakthrough helps determine diminished blood flow to the heart

Research presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting is challenging the typical paradigm used to determine whether heart patients will benefit from invasive procedures like stent-placement or open-heart surgery. Current medical practice favors treating patients with coronary atherosclerosis (or hardening of the artery walls due to plaque build-up) with such procedures if a coronary artery is shown to be blocked by 70 percent or more in order to reduce symptoms and potentially prevent heart attack. However, a group of cardiac investigators are now finding that in addition to the degree of blockage, composition of the plaque causing the blockage also has significant impact on coronary artery blood flow. This may help explain why two people with similarly blocked coronary arteries can experience vastly different symptoms - ScienceDaily

New method to grow arteries could lead to "biological bypass" for heart disease (USA)

A new method of growing arteries could lead to a "biological bypass" - a non-invasive way to treat coronary artery disease - Yale School of Medicine researchers and their colleagues report in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Coronary arteries can become blocked with plaque, leading to a decrease in the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart. Over time this blockage can lead to debilitating chest pain or heart attack. Severe blockages in multiple major vessels may require coronary artery bypass graft surgery, a major invasive surgery. "Successfully growing new arteries could provide a biological option for patients facing bypass surgery," said lead author of the study, Michael Simons, M.D., chief of the Section of Cardiology at Yale School of Medicine. In the past, researchers used growth factors - proteins that stimulate the growth of cells - in an attempt to grow new arteries, but this method was unsuccessful. Simons and his team studied mice and zebrafish to see if they could simulate arterial formation by switching on and off two signaling pathways: ERK1/2 and PI3K. "We found that there is cross-talk between the two signaling pathways. One half of the signaling pathway inhibits the other. When we disable the inhibitor mechanism, we are able to grow arteries," said Simons. "Instead of using growth factors, we stopped the inhibitor mechanism by using a drug that targets a particular enzyme called PI3-kinase inhibitor." "Because we've located this inhibitory pathway, this opens the possibility of developing a new class of medication to grow new arteries," Simons added. "The next step is to test this finding in a human clinical trial"

A simple way for older adults to assess arterial stiffness: reach for the toes

How far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position normally used to define the flexibility of a person's body may be an indicator of how stiff your arteries are. A study in the American Journal of Physiology has found that, among people 40 years old and older, performance on the sit-and-reach test could be used to assess the flexibility of the arteries. Because arterial stiffness often precedes cardiovascular disease, the results suggest that this simple test could become a quick measure of an individual's risk for early mortality from heart attack or stroke. "Our findings have potentially important clinical implications because trunk flexibility can be easily evaluated," said one of the authors, Kenta Yamamoto. "This simple test might help to prevent age-related arterial stiffening."

Board delays vote on cardiac care bid (USA)

"Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama, must wait until at least July to learn if its proposal to do procedures that will open clogged arteries will move forward in the required state approval process. The Statewide Health Coordinating Council delayed a vote on a request by Keller and three other hospitals that want to do percutaneous coronary interventions without on-site open heart surgery availability. Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville, Decatur General Hospital and Stringfellow Memorial Hospital in Anniston joined Keller in the request for a change in the state health plan to allow the procedures. The hospitals contend that the health plan does not recognize modern advances that make inserting stents, balloons and other catheterizations to open arteries much safer than when the state wrote the guidelines"

Scientists pinpoint fats danger

"Scientists have identified a genetic mechanism which appears to determine which fatty deposits in the arteries have the potential to kill us. Most of these plaques pose no risk to health, but a minority burst, forming blood clots, which can cause heart attacks or strokes. A Columbia University team pinpointed a gene which seems to make plaques more vulnerable to rupture. The American study appears in the journal Cell Metabolism" - BBC

Technology gives 3-D view of human coronary arteries

For the first time researchers are getting a detailed look at the interior of human coronary arteries, using an optical imaging technique developed at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In their report in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, the research team describes how optical frequency-domain imaging gives three-dimensional, microscopic views of significant segments of patients' coronary arteries, visualizing areas of inflammation and plaque deposits - ScienceDaily