Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0018799 (heart disease)
 34,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pharmaceutical therapy of hyperlipidemia is clearly beneficial. In the patient without established heart disease however, conventional risk assessment is imprecise and determining which patients are at highest versus lowest risk is a common clinical conundrum. It is well established that the most powerful determinant to risk is the overall extent/severity of coronary disease. Electron beam tomography (EBT) and quantification of coronary artery calcium has been shown to provide a valid non-invasive surrogate to atherosclerotic plaque burden. Screening patients who are considered to be at traditional intermediate to high risk by first using EBT can refine the broad-based population risk to a more individual basis. Data that is based upon a model developed for application of EBT are presented, which discuss its potential as a cost effective application to guide statin therapy in intermediate and high-risk sub-groups.
 ...
PMID:Cost effectiveness of coronary calcification scanning using electron beam tomography in intermediate and high risk asymptomatic individuals. 1087 14

Atherosclerosis, a disease of the large arteries, is the primary cause of heart disease and stroke. In westernized societies, it is the underlying cause of about 50% of all deaths. Epidemiological studies have revealed several important environmental and genetic risk factors associated with atherosclerosis. Progress in defining the cellular and molecular interactions involved, however, has been hindered by the disease's aetiological complexity. Over the past decade, the availability of new investigative tools, including genetically modified mouse models of disease, has resulted in a clearer understanding of the molecular mechanisms that connect altered cholesterol metabolism and other risk factors to the development of atherosclerotic plaque. It is now clear that atherosclerosis is not simply an inevitable degenerative consequence of ageing, but rather a chronic inflammatory condition that can be converted into an acute clinical event by plaque rupture and thrombosis.
 ...
PMID:Atherosclerosis. 1100 Oct 66

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the newest and most exciting imaging techniques for the cardiovascular system. Its present clear-cut clinical indications include the diagnosis of pericardial disease, aortic disease, cardiac masses, congenital heart disease, anomalous coronary arteries, and right ventricular dysplasia. However, the indications for cardiovascular MRI are growing as its spatial resolution and versatility is increasingly acknowledged. MRI is now recognized as the gold standard measure of left ventricular size and global and regional function. Valvular function can be interrogated in a straightforward fashion. Indications that are now available in some institutions and will be more widespread in the near future include magnetic resonance dobutamine stress testing and magnetic resonance perfusion imaging with or without vasodilator stress. Coronary artery imaging for diagnosis of the severity of disease remains in development, as does imaging of coronary flow and flow reserve. Other exciting applications currently being investigated include real-time imaging and intravascular MRI, enabling imaging from the inside of vessels outward, thereby enhancing the ability to image atherosclerotic plaque. The applications of MRI to the cardiovascular system are rapidly expanding and will continue to do so in the new millennium.
 ...
PMID:Current and future applications of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. 1117 98

Atherosclerosis, a disease of large arteries is the primary cause of heart disease and stroke and is the cause of 50% of all deaths in industrialized countries. Epidemiological studies have revealed several important environmental (smoking, sedentary life, feeding) and genetic risk factors associated with atherosclerosis. Knowledge on molecular and cellular causes of atherosclerosis have considerably progressed for 20 years. However, it is highly difficult to propose a valuable atherogenesis model because numerous molecular and cellular abnormalities interact together to induce atheroma. Nevertheless, over the past decade, transgenic animals gave interesting physiopathological models of atherogenesis and the opportunity to elaborate a pertinent theory of plaque formation. It is now demonstrated that atherosclerosis is not a simple chronic degenerescence of vascular wall, depending on age and other risk factors (dyslipidaemia, smoking, diabetes) but rather a chronic inflammatory disease, which induces plaque rupture and acute cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction and stroke).
 ...
PMID:[Fundamental data on atherosclerosis]. 1124 Apr 11

Myocardial infarction is still one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity in Western countries. The advances made in the last 30 years have made it possible to reduce mortality significantly (which is currently below two digits) as well as morbidity. The subject of secondary prevention of myocardial infarction gains particular significance in this context since 10 to 15% of the patients who survive the hospital phase of myocardial infarction die during the first year following discharge and, of these deaths, half occur in the first three months. Therefore, it is necessary to make an early definition of the risk of another coronary event, that is, to make a risk stratification. This should occur throughout hospitalization and should be complete at the time of discharge, never beyond the first weeks of evolution. Bearing in mind the age, sex, coronary risk factors, ischemia persistence, the degree of left ventricular dysfunction and the presence of malignant disrhythmias, there are three risk levels: high; intermediate; and low. An overall approach to secondary prevention of infarction should take into account that, apart from the factors of such high prognostic value (Chapter II) assessed in the definition of risk groups, the measures to reduce reinfarction and sudden death (Chapter III) and the control of the risk factors for heart disease (Chapter IV) should also be considered. The principal late complications of infarction with significant prognostic influence are described in Chapter III: left ventricular dysfunction; rhythm disturbances and residual ischemia. The diagnostic criteria and therapeutic objectives are considered in each of the groups with relevance to consolidated advances according to the modern concept of evidence based medicine, according to international regulations. The grading of scientific evidence into three distinct categories (A, B and C), based on five levels of evidence classified from I to V, is presented accordingly in relation to the therapeutic proposals. Chapter III deals with a set of therapeutic interventions used in secondary prevention because they reduce reinfarction and sudden death: platelet antiaggregants; anticoagulants; Beta blockers; calcium channel blockers; antioxidants and nitrates. A concept of particular clinical significance is presented for each of these groups of drugs. The last part contains an eminently clinical overall review of the principal advances in coronary risk factor control, new therapeutic acquisitions in atherosclerotic disease with natural relevance to hypolipidemic agents and statins, which apart from controlling the plasmatic levels of cholesterol, also stabilize the atherosclerotic plaque and reduce acute coronary events significantly. Apart from dyslipidemia, the classic risk factors are: smoking; hypertension; obesity; diabetes and sedentary life. In each case, reference is made to the general measures and specific approaches, as well as the pharmacological therapy according to evidence based medicine. The recommended attitudes are pointed out. The role of cardiac rehabilitation and postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy are also discussed in the last part of these recommendations, in which the on-going controversy regarding hormone replacement therapy is pointed out in view of the results of more recent clinical trials.
 ...
PMID:[Secondary prevention in acute myocardial infarction]. 1147 86

Chinese tea and the major health effects include: antimicrobial, anti-ultraviolet radiation, anticancer, lowering blood lipid and glucose, and protecting against coronary heart diseases. In contrast to the extensive studies on the protective effects of tea on cancer, fewer studies on the health effects of tea on cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have been published. This paper summarises the research results on the possible protective effects of tea on CVD available in China. The results from animal studies clearly demonstrated that tea pigments are effective in lowering blood lipid levels and preventing plaque formation in the aorta. However, the evidence of tea pigments in protecting ischemia heart disease (IHD) in humans is less convincing. One large well-designed ecological study reported an inverse correlation between tea drinking and IHD mortality; but the inverse correlation disappeared after controlling possible confounding factors. However, the effects in improving blood lipid levels and rheology biomarkers in hyperlipidemia subjects or CVD patients by tea pigments seem promising. However, these studies were not well-designed, controlled randomized clinical trials. This made the assessment difficult and inconclusive.
 ...
PMID:Candidate foods in the Asia-Pacific region for cardiovascular protection: Oriental tea. 1171 Mar 54

This is a brief review of the rationale for estrogen replacement as prevention of coronary artery disease. Epidemiological data suggest that Premarin (0.625 mg) together with medroxyprogesterone acetate (2.5 mg) can prevent or delay the onset of coronary artery disease in postmenopausal women. The major effects of estrogens are: improving the lipid profile by lowering low-density lipoprotein and raising high-density lipoprotein; acting on vessel walls to reduce intimal damage and plaque formation; dilating vessels by both an endothelial dependent and an independent pathway; and acting as an antioxidant, thereby reducing the oxidation of low density lipoprotein and increasing the production of nitric oxide locally in the blood vessel. Oral estrogens and transdermal estrogens may act differently on coagulation factors and lipids. The role of specific estrogen receptor modulators as possible treatment for postmenopausal women in part will depend on the effect of these drugs in preventing coronary artery disease. The specific estrogen receptor modulators decrease low-density lipoprotein and prevent triglyceride increases but it is unknown if they have estrogenic effects on blood vessel walls. Better compliance with estrogen replacement therapy will depend on educating women about their risk of getting coronary artery disease, and assisting them in decision making, as well as reducing side effects. The Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study provides evidence that Prempro (Premarin/ medroxyprogesterone acetate) should not be given to someone who already has heart disease without careful monitoring. (c) 2000 by CHF, Inc.
 ...
PMID:Hormone replacement therapy (estrogen and progesterone): is it necessary for heart disease prevention? 1183 12

Heart disease is directly associated with aging as well as progression of atherosclerosis. The vessels begin to stiffen with age. It is speculated that the increase in stiffness can occur as a result of either increase progression of atherosclerosis or possibly due to the deterioration of the elastic components of the arterial wall. Regardless of the mechanism, an increase in vessel stiffness can lead to significant increase in the pathophysiological progression of the disease. The overall objectives of this investigation were to evaluate the coronary artery obtained from cadavers in their 7th, 8th and 9th of life and characterized the level of atherosclerosis and to identify using special elastin staining techniques the involvement of fiber disruption in atherosclerosis. The coronary arteries were obtained from cadaveric donors at the University of Saskatoon (average age 81.7 years, range 77-92 years of age). The arteries were fixed, sectioned and stained for routine analysis as well as with an Elastin staining protocol. The arteries were screened and the level of atherosclerosis was measured as well as thickness changes within the arteries. Digital imaging was used to capture the areas of elastin disruption. The overall results suggest elastin disruption occurs as the atherosclerotic plaque progresses. The imaging system in conjunction with elastin staining allows for a very sensitive method to analyze the tissue for the progression of pathophysiological disease mechanisms.
 ...
PMID:The use of digital imaging technology to assess the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis: the role of elastin. 1272 31

Despite worldwide efforts aimed at primary and secondary prevention, heart disease is still the leading cause of death in the western world. There is great interest in developing tools for noninvasive assessment of the presence and degree of coronary artery disease. The advent of multidetector-row CT allows high-resolution volume coverage of the entire thorax and motion-free imaging of the heart and adjacent vessels within one breathhold. An exciting application with significant potential for cardiac risk stratification, which may overcome the obvious limitations of coronary calcium imaging in the future, is the use of the cross-sectional nature of contrast-enhanced multidetector-row CT coronary angiography for assessment of total coronary artery plaque burden.
 ...
PMID:Multidetector-row CT of the heart. 1279 2

Demonstrated are eight cases of carcinoid heart disease (7 females, 1 male; average age 63.4 y.). The primary tumor was localized in the ileum in 5, and in the cecal area in 3 patients, with liver metastases in each case. The characteristic heart lesion appears as an endocardial plaque composed of loose intercellular matrix with scattered smooth muscle cells, covered by an endothelial layer. The plaques are apposed on an otherwise normal valvular, or mural endocardium of the right heart. The resulting combined valvular lesions show a predominance o tricuspid incompetence, or of pulmonary stenosis. In one case with a widely patent foramen ovale there was involvement of left-heart valves in addition. Local effect of serotonin appears to play the main role in pathogenesis of the endocardial plaques.
 ...
PMID:[Carcinoid heart disease]. 1287 1


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>