Hot Topics in Heart Disease Prevention and Treatment

From prevention to treatment, cardiovascular medicine is changing rapidly.

During Heart Disease Awareness Month, experts at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center are available to discuss new strategies for improving patient care and the quality of patients' lives as they combat heart disease, the nation's leading cause of death.

From high blood pressure, childhood obesity, heart valve disease and arrhythmias to sudden death among athletes, here are some buzz-worthy topics in heart health:

Heart device use on the rise

LaVisha McDonald walks two to three miles every other day and not many people on a heart transplant list can say that. "Most people waiting for transplant surgery … Their life is on hold.

My doctor told me to go live," says LaVisha, a mother of six who has no time for a hospital bed. Doctors at the U-M Cardiovascular Center implanted a left ventricle assist device that pumps blood for her in a way her failing heart no longer can. With the number of donor hearts remaining stable, increasingly heart patients nationwide are living normal lives with the help of heart devices. The U-M Center for Circulatory Support is also leading a study to examine earlier device use for heart failure patients.

Sudden cardiac death among athletes

Every year, we hear about deaths among young athletes on the sports field or on the court. Sudden cardiac death in young athletes is often caused by an underlying heart disease such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is inherited from one generation to the next. Simply improving pre-participation screening and conducting electrocardiograms on properly selected children may help reduce cardiac deaths.

Five simple rules to fight childhood obesity

Reaching five simple goals – make better beverage choices, be active, eat fewer fast and fatty foods, spend less time in front of a screen - could change a generation's health. Project Healthy Schools, founded by researchers at the U-M CVC, teaches sixth graders habits to prevent childhood obesity and its long-term health risks such as diabetes and heart disease. PHS is one of the few school programs in the nation to prove it gets children in better shape by lowering their cholesterol and blood pressure.

Seven Steps to Control Blood Pressure

• Lose weight if you are overweight - even a small drop in weight can lower blood pressure significantly. In some overweight people, a loss of as little as 5 to 10 pounds can make antihypertensive drugs unnecessary.
• Limit your daily alcohol intake to less than two drinks daily.
• Exercise regularly.• Don't smoke.• Keep your sodium intake under 2,400 milligrams per day (the amount in 6 grams of salt—a little more than a teaspoon).• Maintain an adequate dietary intake of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and dietary fiber, which may help prevent or lower high blood pressure.• Reduce your intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, which can help you reduce weight and is beneficial for overall cardiovascular health.