heart failure

To harness endothelin-1's power to constrict blood vessels and help patients manage high blood pressure or heart failure, scientists must learn more about how endothelin functions naturally and in disease states, says a Medical College of Georgia researcher.

(Medical College of Georgia) To harness endothelin-1's power to constrict blood vessels and help patients manage high blood pressure or heart failure, scientists must learn more about how endothelin functions naturally and in disease states, says a Medical College of Georgia researcher.

Chest pain and shortness of breath are common symptoms that send tens of thousands of heart failure (HF) patients into US hospitals each month.

Cardiologists may now be able to curb such visits for some of their HF patients with the use of new wireless pressure sensor technology that allows physicians to track the pulmonary artery pressure of patients while these patients remain at home.

Could injecting a gene into a patient with severe heart failure reverse their disabling and life-threatening condition?

Physician-scientists are setting out to answer that question in a first-ever clinical trial of gene therapy to treat severe heart failure.

The changes in heart rate that are potentially fatal in individuals with LQT2 are caused by changes in the electrical activity in the heart because of mutations in the HERG gene.

New data have now revealed that fever can trigger life-threatening changes in the electrical activity in the heart of patients with LQT-2.

(University of Michigan Health System) Activated vitamin D protects the heart against avoid overwork and enlargement, two of the hallmarks of heart failure, a University of Michigan study in animals shows.

The results, the first to show vitamin D can prevent the damaging effects of heart failure, add heart health to the growing list of vitamin D's benefits.

Heart transplants save the lives of more than 2,100 Americans every year. But many more patients are still waiting for a new heart to become available, and hundreds will die without ever getting a second chance at life.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands more people aren't sick enough to need a transplant, but struggle every day with severe heart failure that limits all aspects of their lives.

A study, led by University of Iowa researchers, reveals a new dimension for a key heart enzyme and sheds light on an important biological pathway involved in cell death in heart disease.

The study, published in the May 2 issue of Cell, has implications for understanding, and potentially for diagnosing and treating, heart failure and arrhythmias.

Nearly two out of three patients have one or more precipitating factors that may contribute to hospital admissions nationwide for heart failure, according to a new study.

Pneumonia, irregular heart beats and obstructed blood flow to the heart are the most frequent factors. The findings may help cardiologists better understand the factors that contribute to hospitalizations for heart failure and may help improve management of the disease.

A genetic variation, found predominantly in African Americans, protects some people with heart failure, enabling them to live longer than expected.

Researchers found that the genetic variation acts just like beta-blockers, a class of drugs used to treat chronic heart failure.

The researchers say their discovery adds to the accumulating evidence that genetic differences contribute to the way people respond to medications.