The amino acid L-arginine provides no benefit to people who have suffered a heart attack, and may even increase the mortality rate in patients over the age of 60,…

When clot-busting drugs fail to stop a heart attack, surgery to reopen a clogged artery is the most effective way to treat a patient, cutting the risk of death…

A substantial number of patients in the initial stages of a heart attack or severe chest pain crisis - events lumped together as “acute coronary syndrome” or ACS - experience…

Because of inaccuracies in prescribing, 42 percent of patients rushed to emergency rooms with symptoms of a heart attack received doses of powerful drugs intended stop clotting in coronary…

Nearly two-thirds of heart attack patients said they feared a second heart attack, more so than dying, but more than a third spurned some basic lifestyle preventive measures, according to…

“While our research reaffirmed the risk of stroke among patients with heart disease, the surprise was that the risk was so high in the month after a heart attack,”…

Americans’ odds of surviving a heart attack seem to partially depend on which state they live in, according to researchers.

Their study of hospital data from 11 states…

The presence of depressive symptoms when patients are hospitalized for a heart attack seems to reduce survival in the next 5 years, Canadian researchers report. However, a long-standing history of…

New research published online in European’s leading cardiology journal, European Heart Journal, links exposure to chronic noise with an increased risk of heart attack.

Furthermore, the risk seems to be…

Patients who have had a heart attack and are treated with a high dose of a statin drug did not have significant reduction in…

Sweating during physical activity or in hot weather is healthy. But when individuals begin perspiring while experiencing discomfort in their chest, arm, neck or jaw - with…

Stem cells derived from human heart tissue develop into multicellular, spherical structures called cardiospheres that express the normal properties of primitive heart tissue, smooth muscle and…

Heart attack sufferers who are left with very low ejection fractions - a sign that the heart is not pumping efficiently - appear to benefit from a novel procedure in…

A pot belly increases the risk of a Heart Attack - even if the rest of the physique is as skinny as a beanpole.

The person with that…

A variety of secondary prevention programs, even ones lacking an exercise component, can improve the health outcomes of people with coronary artery disease, new research shows.

Previous reports have shown…

An encouraging study presented at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation’s (CRF) Annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium has shown that transplantation of bone marrow stem cells into the heart…

A. Aspirin

All patients with definite or suspected myocardial infarction should receive aspirin at a dose of 162 mg or 325 mg at once regardless of whether thrombolytic therapy is being considered…

Twenty percent of patients with acute myocardial infarction die before they reach the hospital. Mortality rates in hospitalized patients range from 5% to 15% and are determined chiefly by the size of the infarction and…

A variety of complications can occur after myocardial infarction even when treatment is initiated promptly.

A. Postinfarction Ischemia

Approximately 30% of patients will have angina postinfarction. This is more common in…

1. General
Patients usually appear anxious and are often sweating profusely. The heart rate may range from marked bradycardia (most commonly in inferior infarction) to tachycardia resulting from increased sympathetic nervous system…

Clinical Findings

Symptoms
1. Premonitory pain
One-third of patients give a history of alteration in the pattern of angina, recent onset of typical or atypical angina, or unusual…

Essentials of Diagnosis

• Sudden but not instantaneous development of prolonged (> 30 minutes) anterior chest discomfort (sometimes felt as “gas” or pressure) that may produce arrhythmias, hypotension, shock, or cardiac failure.
• Rarely…