New scanning strategy could help develop heart disease treatments (Scotland)

Patients with life-threatening heart valve disease could be helped with alternative scanning techniques that provide greater insight into the condition. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh used an imaging technique that could help predict which patients will need open heart surgery to replace their heart valves, and improve treatments to prevent the disease. The narrowing and hardening of the heart's aortic valve – a common condition known as aortic stenosis – affects 1 in 20 people over 65 in the UK and is on the increase due to an ageing population. The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, trialled the use of positron emission tomography scans among patients with the condition. The scans give a much clearer insight into the process that causes aortic stenosis than ultrasound scans, which are currently used for diagnosis. They involve using tracer chemicals, which highlight molecular changes within the body

Fife cardiac patients in good heart! (Scotland)

Cardiac patients in Fife have attended an activity day at Lochore Meadows. Some 50 people who have suffered a cardiac incident turned out to take part in a range of activities including archery, kayaking, cycling, walking and kata-kanuing - paddling in canoes designed for teams. The event was organised to celebrate 11 years of community-based Fife Cardiac Rehabilitation Services - delivered by Fife Sports and Leisure Trust in partnership with NHS Fife. The annual get-together celebrates the achievement and progress of people who attend cardiac rehabilitation classes in leisure centres across the Kingdom. The service, which has been delivered by the trust since 2000, provides long-term maintenance involving gym or circuit classes led by qualified British Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation instructors. Around 12,000 people every year have taken part in Fife Sports and Leisure Trust's cardiac rehab classes held in 11 of its centres across Fife. Patients are referred to the service following a cardiac incident and progress through three phases of rehabilitation before joining phase four - the community-based service offered by the trust

Defibrillators in Scottish shops

A scheme which will see life-saving devices installed in 40 stores in Scotland has been hailed by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon. The Semichem shop in Kirkcaldy is the first to have its staff trained to use the automated defibrillators which can help save the lives of heart attack victims. As part of the programme the devices, which give the heart an electric shock, are being installed in Scotmid, Semichem and Fragrance House shops. The Scottish Ambulance Service is helping Scotmid to purchase and install the in-store defibrillators, training staff to ensure they can use them quickly if needed. The ambulance service also worked closely with the company to identify those stores where the defibrillators are likely to save the most lives

Doctors warn that fat can kill even if person is healthy (Scotland)

A study has found that obese people who are healthy are still twice as likely to suffer a fatal heart attack. A research team from Glasgow University discovered that a person's weight and levels of fat can directly increase the risk of a fatal heart attack by as much as 75 percent, even if the person is otherwise healthy. It is a known fact that obese people are more likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol, all contributory factors to heart conditions. "The message coming from this is that obesity itself is not a benign condition," the Scotsman quoted Dr Jennifer Logue, who led the research, as saying. The research team tracked the health of more than 6,000 middle-aged men with high cholesterol, but no history of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, for around 15 years. After excluding men who had cardiovascular problems or died within two years of the start of monitoring, the team recorded 214 deaths and 1,027 non-fatal heart attacks or strokes occurred during the whole study period. The risk of a heart attack was then compared across categories of increasing body mass index (BMI), using two different approaches. One simply corrected for any differences in the age or smoking status of the men, while the second corrected for cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol and blood pressure, deprivation and any medications the men were taking. The results showed that the higher a man's weight, the higher was his likelihood of having other risk factors for cardiovascular disease

Heart pump 'mends' Airdrie woman's heart (Scotland)

A 27-year-old woman whose heart stopped beating on the operating table has been saved by a Nasa-inspired heart pump. Mother-of-three Heather McIntyre, from Airdrie, suffered heart failure last July, five months after giving birth. A surgeon at Scotland's Golden Jubilee National Hospital kept her alive by massaging her heart and inserting a Ventricular Assist Device (VAD). It uses tiny motors designed by NASA scientists to pump blood around the body, taking over the heart's function. While Ms McIntyre was on the operating table, her family were told she had died "a couple of times" because her heart had stopped beating. However, cardiothoracic surgeon Saleem Haj-Yahia refused to give up on her...

Brain cooling could aid stroke recovery (Scotland)

Cooling the brain of patients who have suffered a stroke could dramatically improve their recovery, a group of Scottish doctors has said. They are joining others from across Europe who believe that inducing hypothermia in some patients can boost survival rates and reduce brain damage. Similar techniques have already been tried successfully on heart attack patients and those with birth injuries. Scientists are in Brussels to discuss a Europe-wide trial of the technique. To date, studies have involved the body of patients being cooled using ice cold intravenous drips and cooling pads applied to the skin. This lowers the body temperature to about 35C, just a couple of degrees below its normal level - BBC

$1.6 million to take forward breakthrough research in heart disease (Scotland)

"Clues to the causes of serious, and often fatal, diseases and conditions, such as heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure, are being investigated at the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow, both in Scotland, with the use of a £1 million grant. Scientists at the universities have made a breakthrough in techniques for exploring faults in 'smooth' muscles, which play a major part in controlling blood flow, blood pressure and the digestion of food. For all of this to operate properly, the muscles must act in a co-ordinated way but how they do so is still not fully understood. However, it is known that calcium plays a part and the researchers have developed an innovative system for looking at calcium in targeted areas of blood cells. They have received a £1million programme grant from the Wellcome Trust to take their investigation further"

Scots' cholesterol research could be life-saver

Scottish scientists have discovered new genes linked to high cholesterol, paving the way for tests to predict a person's risk of heart disease. An international team of researchers, including experts at Edinburgh University, studied the genetic make-up of more than 100,000 volunteers to help to pinpoint genes which might have an impact on cholesterol levels. The scientists said the study showed for the first time that it was possible to predict who was likely to develop high cholesterol using a genetic blood test - Scotsman

Smoking, low IQ top cardio risk factors (Scotland)

Researchers in Scotland say lower intelligence was second only to smoking as a predictor of cardiovascular disease. The study, published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, quantified the associations of cardiovascular disease and nine risk factors, including cognitive ability assessed using a standard test of general intelligence. The researchers found the Top 5 risk factors predicting cardiovascular death were smoking, low IQ, low income, high systolic blood pressure and low physical activity. "It may also be worthwhile for health promotion campaigns to be planned with consideration of individual cognition levels," Dr. David Batty of the Medical Research Council in Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh said in a statement. Batty also noted intelligence may well be one important factor behind the place of social class as a fundamental determinant of inequalities in health. Batty and colleagues analyzed data collected for the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study - a population study investigating the influence of social factors on health. The researchers looked at data collected in 1987 of 1,145 men and women about age 55 and tracked for 20 years

Jerry Morris: The man who invented exercise (Scotland)

"Jerry Morris, a Glasgow-educated epidemiologist who recently died aged 99, has been credited as 'the man who invented exercise'. His research was vital in showing the links between exercise and health. In 1948, he helped found the Medical Research Council's social medicine unit. His work focused on coronary heart disease and physical activity and infant mortality. Later, in the 1950s, Jerry's book Uses of Epidemiology was used as a blueprint for public health activities and influenced the reform of health and social services under the Labour governments."

10th Anniversary of Healthy Heart Programme (Dundee, Scotland)

"The University of Dundee's Institute of Sports and Exercise (ise) will this week celebrate 10 years of helping to improve the health of local heart disease-sufferers. The Phase IV Cardiac Rehab class is part of the ise's Specialist Populations exercise programme, which also works with diabetes sufferers. Since its inception in 1999, the class has been attended by more than 450 people from Dundee and the surrounding area as part of their recovery from a range of conditions and treatments including heart attacks, bypass surgery, angina, heart transplants and valve replacements"

Innovative heart surgery unveiled in Scotland

"A pioneering technique which could save thousands of patients from having heart surgery has been performed in Scotland for the first time by one of the world's leading cardiologists. The method of opening blocked arteries, which was devised in Japan, was demonstrated to dozens of doctors from across the country at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank. A 69-year-old man was the patient used on Wednesday to demonstrate the new technique. He was suffering from chronic total occlusion, which means a blocked artery. Instead of having to undergo bypass surgery, which could mean up to ten days in hospital and three months recovery, the new procedure could mean the man will go home on Thursday and back to normal by the end of the week. The man was wide awake as one of the world's leading cardiologists, Professor Masahiko Ochiai, inserted tiny wires into his leg and up to his heart. Two hours later, the operation was finished and was hailed a complete success" - STV

New plans to cut heart, stroke death rates (Scotland)

Scotland is on course to cut the number of deaths from heart disease and strokes by half inside a decade, doctors revealed. The health boost was revealed as Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met recovering patients in Glasgow and announced new plans to reduce the death rates even further. They will focus on prevention and treatment, as well as increasing the survival rates for those who are affected. David Clark, chief executive of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, said: "We have seen death rates from heart disease and stroke drop by nearly half in the last 10 years. "This new strategy provides an excellent opportunity to take this to the next stage by improving the quality of life for people who survive heart disease and strokes." The NHS in Scotland has targets of reducing premature heart deaths by 60% and stroke by 50% by 2010 from 1995 levels. The last set of figures were published in 2005 and showed deaths from heart attacks had reduced from 18 per 10,000 of the population in 1995 to 12 per 10,000 in 2005. Stroke deaths fell from 3.7 per 10,000 to 2 per 10,000 over the same period - Evening Times

4th UK Stroke Forum Conference

4th UK Stroke Forum Conference: bringing together the multidisciplinary stroke community to improve stroke care in the UK - 1-3 December 2009 - Glasgow, Scotland

'Heart machines' set for Subway (Scotland)

"Potentially life-saving defibrillators are to be installed at six key Subway stations in Glasgow. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport said staff would be trained to use the equipment which can restart a person's heart when they suffer cardiac arrest. It is part of a wider campaign by the British Heart Foundation to provide 100 defibrillators at 100 locations across the city. The charity hopes to raise £100,000 to purchase the equipment. Ron Culley, chief executive of SPT, said: "Unfortunately statistics still show that a high number of people living in and around Glasgow are struck down by heart attack" - BBC

Transplant family's 'heart trick' (Scotland)

A Scottish family could become the first in the UK to undergo three heart transplants. Stephen Moffat, 12, from Cleland, Lanarkshire, and Rachael, 7, were the first siblings to have transplants for a hereditary heart problem. Now their father, Andrew, 45, requires the operation for the same condition. He told the BBC Scotland news website: "It is very rare. Rather than a hat trick - we would be going for a 'heart trick'."

Leaky blood vessels stroke link

"One in five strokes may be caused by a weakening of the tiny arteries in the brain, a new study has found. The brain damage caused by lacunar strokes, which occur in tiny rather than large arteries, may be caused by a gradual weakening of the artery wall. It was previously thought this type of stroke was caused only by reduced blood flow to the brain. Edinburgh University experts believe the weakening occurs in the protective lining of the small arteries" - BBC

Cigarette machines to be banned in Scotland

Cigarette vending machines are to be banned in Scotland as part of plans to tackle child smoking. Tobacco displays in shops will also be outlawed under proposed legislation brought forward by Scottish ministers. A registration scheme would also be brought in for retailers, with fines for those who break the rules. - BBC

Scotland extends healthcare IT

The Scottish government has announced a range of telecare and hi-tech projects to support NHS services. The largest of these schemes is the roll out of a programme in Edinburgh and the Lothians of a programme to support 400 patients with long term conditions, including heart failure, diabetes and strokes, backed by GBP700,000 from NHS Lothian and the Scottish government. The extended scheme, which follows trials over the last nine months with about 30 patients in West Lothian, Midlothian and Edinburgh, aims to allow patients to monitor their own conditions on a daily basis at home. It uses touch screen technology and can test for blood pressure, breathing, blood glucose and oxygen levels - Kable

Scottish Campaign for Cardiac Rehabilitation

"The Scottish Campaign for Cardiac Rehabilitation has been launched by an alliance of patient organisations, health professionals and heart charities creating one powerful voice to champion the cause of cardiac rehabilitation. Our demand is that 'Cardiac Rehabilitation must be fully recognised as being central to the treatment and care of heart patients. By the end of 2010, every heart patient must have access to a high quality cardiac rehabilitation programme'"