New Zealand medical team to help in Zambia

"New Zealand medics have launched a plan to carry out life-saving heart surgery in Zambia. A team of medical experts aim to save over 100 lives in Zambia by setting up the country's first ever cardiac unit. The 35 person unit was inspired by Munanga Mwandila in Christchurch who has related tales of his homeland's health system to colleagues. "There is a huge burden with conditions such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. These are conditions which take up the bulk of the health resources," Dr Mwandila told ONE News. With most of Zambia's 12 million people living in poverty, the team plan to make five trips to Zambia over the next five years to perform the country's first ever heart operations. Cardiac surgeon Harsh Singh will lead the team, who have all volunteered their time for the project" - TVNZ

$5m to avert heart wait-list deaths (New Zealand)

"Auckland and Northland patients needing state-paid heart surgery have been assured waiting times will shorten following a $5 million boost. Health Minister Tony Ryall announced the cash yesterday after audits at Auckland City Hospital revealed that 141 patients had in May been waiting too long for surgery. The maximum wait under clinical guidelines ranges from two weeks to three months, depending on each patient's condition. Yesterday, the hospital promised to cut waiting times to a maximum of three months by October 31." - NZ Herald

Woman's extreme Red Bull diet (New Zealand)

"A 23-year-old Auckland mother who lost 45kg in eight months by drinking nothing but energy drink Red Bull says she has ongoing health problems because of the diet. Brooke Robertson told the Herald on Sunday she shrank from 105kg to 60kg drinking nothing but 10 to 14 cans a day, often accompanying them with nothing more than a handful of dry Honey Puffs. Ms Robertson said she put on weight while carrying son Keir, now four, but did not make a conscious decision to go on a Red Bull diet. "I just started drinking it. I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't eating – I was exhausted," she said. "I just continued to drink it because it's an appetite suppressant and I noticed I was losing weight so stuck with it." Ms Robertson said she managed to keep her addiction secret from family and friends, and did not recover from it until after a two-week stay in hospital following a minor heart attack. "I managed to wean myself off it by being in hospital for that long but I had severe withdrawals – sweating, nausea, shaking. It was an addiction. The doctors stated that." Ms Robertson now maintains her figure through exercise and a Weight Watchers diet, but said she still suffers the effects of the extreme diet. She said she has a heart murmur, gets severe pain and cramping in her stomach and bowel, and suffers anxiety attacks. A Red Bull spokesman said there was "scientific evidence that caffeine is not addictive". The drink was available in 148 countries "because health authorities across the world have concluded that Red Bull is safe to consume", he said. The drink is banned in Norway, Denmark and Uruguay because of health fears" - stuff.co.nz

Valentine's Heart Week 2009 (New Zealand)

Investigation into low number of Kiwi heart surgeries

"A national investigation is under way as to why New Zealand has lower numbers of heart surgery compared with other OECD countries despite high levels of heart disease. Six thousand New Zealanders die of heart disease each year. And Waikato's cardiac unit, where most Taranaki heart patients are sent for major heart surgery, consistently has one of the lowest operation rates in the country. Last year a national cardiac surgery task force recommended to the Ministry of Health that heart surgery, including bypass and valve replacement, should be increased over the next five years to the same level as that performed in other OECD countries." - Fairfax New Zealand

Heart attack - get checked after age 45

Health experts are urging men in their 40s and even younger to have their hearts checked, following the weekend death of former All Black John Drake. Drake, a television rugby commentator and Herald columnist, collapsed and died of a heart attack at his Mt Maunganui home on Saturday. He was 49. "It's quite unusual for people under 50 to 55 to have heart attacks," University of Auckland researcher Professor Rod Jackson said yesterday. "Heart attacks before the age of 75 or 80 are almost entirely preventable - don't smoke, eat right and do some exercise." The rate of heart attacks under 65 was more than three times higher among men than women, although the gap subsequently narrowed, probably as the effects of the hormonal changes of menopause caught up with women. He said everyone should avoid food rich in saturated fats - such as butter - as they were strongly linked to cardiovascular disease. Research on lumberjacks who ate a lot of dairy food had shown that being extremely fit was no protection. - New Zealand Herald

Historic heart operations at Waikato Hospital

Two patients having heart operations at Waikato Hospital, New Zealand, on Wednesday will be the first in the southern hemisphere to have aortic valve replacements done through a small incision in the chest on a beating heart. The procedures on an 86-year-old Otorohanga woman and a 77-year-old Thames man are combined ones with cardiac surgeons and cardiologists in the hospital cath lab. Leading the surgery are cardiothoracic surgeon Nand Kejriwal and cardiologist Sanjeevan Pasupati under the watchful eye of a Canadian cardiac surgeon

Defective gene increases risk of fatal heart attack

"Men with a defective gene associated with high blood pressure are almost twice as likely to die after a heart attack, an Otago University, New Zealand, study has found. The three-year study of 1075 people found that men were more likely to die if they had a defective ACE2 gene. The gene, which controls blood pressure in its normal form, causes it to increase when defective. Lead researcher Barry Palmer said the link to high blood pressure had been known for some time" - New Zealand Herald

Report: Cardiac Surgery Services in New Zealand

"This Report into Cardiac Surgery Services in New Zealand was initiated in May 2008 by the Ministry of Health with the Cardiac Society, in direct response to ongoing concerns relating to an overall declining level of service, a high level of variation amongst the different regions, an apparent lower provision of cardiac services in most regions in New Zealand compared to other countries, and many DHBs not achieving the planned level of increase with the Electives Initiative funding from 2006/07 onwards"

Love your heart, or it may cost you your life

"The message about heart disease is not getting through to New Zealanders. More and more of us are being diagnosed with cardiac conditions because people are not taking enough responsibility for their health, reports Jenny Meyer. Campaigns to encourage Kiwis to drop their alarming rate of heart disease face an extra barrier this year - the biggest rise in food prices in a couple of decades. 'It's easier and often cheaper to buy high fat, high salt and high sugar foods, than healthy foods like fruit and vegetables,' says Obesity Action Coalition director Leigh Sturgiss. The Statistics New Zealand food price index for the year to August confirms that healthy food is getting more expensive"