Posts Tagged ‘heart attack’

New Treatment Available at Emory for the 850,000 U.S. Adults at Risk for Sudden Cardiac Arrest

November 12th, 2012 By Emory Heart & Vascular Center

New Treatment Cardiac Arrest RiskEmory University Hospital Midtown and Emory University Hospital in Atlanta are among the first hospitals nationwide and the only hospitals in Georgia to have access to the world’s first and only commercially available subcutaneous implantable defibrillator (S-ICD) for the treatment of patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

Emory has been a part of the clinical trials to get this device approved and was the third highest enrolling center nationwide. Electrophysiologist Michael Lloyd, MD will be performing the procedure for the first time since the device has been approved on the open market on November 12, 2012.

The S-ICD System, produced by Boston Scientific, is designed to provide the same protection from SCA as transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs); however the S-ICD System sits entirely just below the skin without the need for thin, insulated wires – known as electrodes or ‘leads’ – to be placed into the heart itself. This leaves the heart and blood vessels untouched, offering physicians and patients an alternative treatment to transvenous ICDs.

Sudden cardiac arrest is an abrupt loss of heart function. Most episodes are caused by the rapid and/or chaotic activity of the heart known as ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Recent estimates show that approximately 850,000 people in the United States are at risk of SCA and indicated for an ICD device, but remain unprotected.

Emory Electrophysiologists Mikhael El Chami, MD, Michael Hoskins, MD, Angel Leon, MD, David DeLurgio, MD, Jonathan Langberg, MD and Michael Lloyd, MD have been instrumental in getting this device approved and will be performing this procedure.

Dr. Michael LloydAbout Michael Lloyd, MD:
Dr. Lloyd began practicing medicine at Emory in 2007—he specializes in Cardiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology. His areas of clinical interest and research include arrhythmias, electrophysiology lab, and pacemaker. Dr. Lloyd’s organizational leadership memberships include the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the Heart Rhythm Society.

 

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Astounding Percentage of Heart Failure Patients Suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

August 8th, 2012 By Emory Heart & Vascular Center

Stress & Heart Attack RiskAn alarming percentage of people who suffer heart attacks or other acute coronary events, one in eight, experience clinically significant symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical or personal harm occurred or was threatened to occur. Post-traumatic stress disorder, usually, associated with military personal after war or sexual assault victims, is now being referenced for heart failure patients.

Each year, about 1.4 million people in the United States experience an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), a condition brought about by sudden reduced blood flow to the heart. The most common symptom prompting diagnosis of ACS is chest pain, often radiating of the left arm or angle of the jaw, pressure-like in character, and associated with nausea and sweating. Numerous small studies have suggested that ACS-induced PTSD is common and can have serious health consequences, but its prevalence is not known.

To understand the severity of the problem, the first combined review, or meta-analysis, of clinical studies of ACS-induced PTSD was recently conducted. The 24 studies in the meta-analysis included a total of 2,383 ACS patients from around the globe.

The research conducted suggests that clinically significant PTSD symptoms induced by ACS are moderately prevalent and are associated with increased risk for recurrent cardiac events and mortality. Although, further tests of the association of ACS-induced PTSD and clinical outcomes are needed, the numbers are significant; overall 12 percent (one in eight) of the patients in the study developed clinically significant PTSD symptoms and four percent of study participants met full diagnostic criteria for the ACS-induced PTSD.

Dr. Donald Edmondson, leader of the study, stated, “Given that some 1.4 million ACS patients are discharged from the U.S. hospitals each year, our results suggest that 168,000 patients will develop clinically significant PTSD symptoms. That is quite substantial. However, there is abundant evidence that psychological disorders in heart patients are under recognized and undertreated. In fact, under diagnosis may be even more pronounced in cardiac practices than in other types of medical practices.”  Edmondson also states that “Fortunately, there are good treatments for people with PTSD, but first, physicians and patients have to be aware that this is a problem. Family members can also help. We know that social support is a good protective factor against PTSD due to any type of traumatic event.”

For more information on the ACS induced PTSD analysis, you can review the paper titled “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Induced by Acute Coronary Syndrome: A meta analytic review of prevalence and associated clinical outcomes.” or check out the video below with Emory’s, Dr. Laurence Sperling, Director for the Center of Heart Disease prevention at the Emory Clinic.

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Understanding Cardiac Arrest in Athletes Such as Fabrice Muamba

March 27th, 2012 By Emory Heart & Vascular Center

Fabrice Muamba

Source: CNN

Emory Heart & Vascular Center cardiologist Chandan Devireddy, MD recently sat down with the team at CNN to discuss what likely happened to English soccer player, Fabrice Muamba, when he collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest during a game earlier this month.

In the CNN interview, Dr. Devireddy also the cautions and guidelines athletes need to take to diagnose and prevent sudden cardiac death. To get Dr. Devireddy’s full take on cardiac arrest and athletes, check out his interview with CNN here.

Emory’s Heart & Vascular Center is consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top heart health centers in the nation. The Emory Heart & Vascular Center offers services that cover the entire continuum of care, from prevention and early detection to the latest in cardiovascular treatment. In fact, Emory has one of the few dedicated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy clinics (HCM) in the US. Emory’s specialized HCM center offers comprehensive care (surgery, interventional cardiology, genetic testing, etc.), as well as greater experience and expertise.

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Can You Regenerate Your Heart after Heart Attack with Your Own Stem Cells?

December 15th, 2011 By Emory Heart & Vascular Center

Emory physicians are conducting research on how to use heart stem cells to help regenerate heart muscle in individuals who have experienced a heart attack. This effort is looking at ways stem cells can replace damaged heart cells and restore cardiac function.

Heart attack survivor Don Robinson was involved in a phase I clinical trial at Emory to test if his own stem cells would help regenerate his heart. For this, stem cells were taken from his body during a bone marrow transplant.

Clinicians involved in the trial are working to find cells that are likely to enhance blood vessel formation and protect the heart muscle from further damage. Mr. Robinson was given 10,000,000 cells after the heart attack, but before the scaring could take place. Scans performed as part of the study now show that Mr. Robinson’s heart has regenerated.

Emory is continually leading the way for advanced new treatments for heart disease. The phase I trial was testing safety of this procedure, but a phase II trial will soon begin at Emory to test this procedure further.

To learn more about Mr. Robinson’s experience, view the full story here.

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Patient Story – Can Stress Lead to a Heart Attack?

November 1st, 2011 By Emory Heart & Vascular Center

Stress & Heart Attack RiskEmory patient, Donna Fielding, a healthy looking 41 year old mother of two is sure that stress and her high-intensity type A personality lead to her heart attack at 37. Her heart attack taught Donna to “take a step back, take a deep breath, and make a decision.” She doesn’t let the “little things” in life ruin her days any longer.

Emory physicians are doing research to study the connection between stress and heart attack risk. According Emory physician, Dr. David Sheps, when you get stressed your heart rate and blood pressure go up.

View Donna’s story and learn about the research Emory is doing in a video from Fox 5 Atlanta, below:

Take control of your stress and potentially reduce your risk for heart disease!

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Heart Attack Atop Stone Mountain?

October 27th, 2011 By Kathy Lee Bishop MS, PT, CCS; Manager, Emory HeartWise Risk Reduction Program

Atlanta Heart Walk 2011We hope having a heart attack on Stone Mountain is not something you will never have to worry about, but for one Emory Heart & Vascular Center patient, he had to take quick action to save his life. Luckily Howard Dean survived to tell the story and is now participating in the Emory HeartWise Heart Disease Risk Reduction program. He has even returned to hike Stone Mountain since that crazy day. View this Fox 5 Atlanta piece on Howard’s story:

To help keep your heart healthy, register to join us this Saturday, October 29th for the American Heart Association’s Metro Atlanta Heart Walk! If you don’t have a team, you can join our Emory team!

  1. Visit www.atlantaheartwalk.org
  2. To register as a participant, click Register and then click “I agree to the waiver.”
  3. Select Join a Team. Find Emory Healthcare in the drop-down box, and find the name of the team you want to join.
  4. Login to your personal Heart Walk page and personalize it by telling your story and adding a photo.
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Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring: What Does it Involve?

December 17th, 2010 By Dr. Raggi

As we’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, atherosclerotic plaque is made up of a combination of fat, cholesterol, and calcium beneath the inner layer of the arteries. The coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart, and the presence and severity of calcified plaque in these vessels is an indirect way to assess the presence of atherosclerosis. The sudden rupture of one of these plaques can cause a heart attack, which is why it’s crucial to know if an individual has accumulated large amounts of atherosclerosis.

An easy way of accomplishing this is through a cardiac CT scan—with this non-invasive method we obtain information on the level of calcified plaque build-up. If calcified plaque is detected, atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries (coronary artery disease: CAD) is present. Two-thirds of heart attacks aren’t caused by the narrowing of the coronary artery, but as I mentioned—by plaque rupturing within the artery wall.

With CT scanning we calculate a calcium score, which measures the extent of plaque burden on your arteries. We report 3 pieces of information with the calcium score: 1) your own absolute score 2) your percentile of calcium score, which tells you how you rank in comparison with people of the your age, sex and race, and 3) your estimated “vascular age”; this is an estimation of how healthy (i.e. young) or diseased (i.e. older) your coronary arteries are compared to people with similar backgrounds, and therefore gives you an indication of your relative risk.

Other components of our Heart CT scan screenings include:

Blood Pressure

If your blood pressure measures over 140/90 mm Hg, it is considered to be at a high level. Some people refer to high blood pressure as “the silent killer” because it can cause severe damage on the body with little to no symptoms.  In fact, it can cause strokes, heart disease and damage to your kidneys or eyesight if left untreated.

Fasting Glucose

The fasting glucose test measures your blood sugar level for the presence of early diabetes. While diabetes is a treatable condition, it may not manifest for years, and can cause damage to your heart and vessels without you realizing it.

Framingham Risk Score

The Framingham Risk Score indicates your risk of experiencing a heart attack within ten years, and is based on a combination of factors such as your age, sex, your blood pressure and cholesterol level.

Overall Cardiovascular Risk

This measurement results from the combination of your Framingham Risk Score and calcium score.

Emory’s comprehensive cardiovascular screening is very reasonably priced at $150, and includes all of the components listed above.

If you have any questions about our Heart CT scans, please let me know in the comments.

About Paolo Raggi, MD:

Dr. Raggi specializes in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, and has been with Emory since 2006. His areas of clinical interest include cardiac CT and MRI, echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, arteriosclerosis and lipids, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and valvular disease. Dr. Raggi is fluent in Italian, Spanish, and French, and holds Organizational Leadership Memberships at the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians.

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