A recent article in the financial press (Bloomberg) drew wide attention to inappropriate and excessive use of stents in patients with coronary artery disease (disease in the vessels that supply blood to the heart). Stents are tiny mesh tubes placed in a diseased coronary artery to “prop” it open after a narrowed segment of it has been expanded by a balloon. (more…)
One common complaint I hear from patients in my practice is the sensation that their heart skips a beat, or that every once in a while they experience an unusually strong heartbeat. This can be felt in the chest or even in the neck. (more…)
Pulmonary embolism is a common and dangerous condition that occurs when blood clots (deep venous thrombosis, or, DVT) break loose and travel from where the clots formed—mostly the leg veins (or, uncommonly, veins elsewhere)—to the pulmonary arteries, which conduct blood from the heart to the lungs. Sometimes these clots are small and may not cause clinical symptoms, because the surface area of the lungs, when opened out, would cover the surface of two tennis courts! However, occasionally, a pulmonary embolism can be massive and rapidly fatal. (more…)
Here is the bad news: Heart disease kills more women than do all cancers combined, yet many women still cite breast cancer as their chief health concern. Young women, especially, do not think heart disease is a threat. But, since 1984, more women than men die each year from heart disease. Although death from heart attack has declined in both men and women over the last 30 years, the decrease has been more pronounced in males than females. Depression after a heart attack is twice as likely to occur in women than men, and depression increases the chance of a second heart attack. (more…)
More than 1,100 interventional cardiac and vascular specialists participated in Mount Sinai Heart’s 16th Annual 2013 Live Symposium of Complex Coronary, Valvular, and Vascular Cases held from Tuesday, June 11, to Friday, June 14. It was the largest number of attendees in the event’s history and included cardiologists, vascular surgeons, radiologists, fellows, nurses, technicians, and other allied health care professionals from cardiac catheterization and vascular laboratories around the globe.
The four-day event featured 28 live broadcasts of cardiac procedures, as well as expert presentations and panel discussions on the latest advances and treatment approaches for complex coronary and cardiovascular disease. (more…)
When deciding on which car or college — or, increasingly, health care provider — to choose, many of us compare reviews and ratings in such sources as Consumer Reports and U.S. News & World Report. More than two decades ago, the New York State Department of Health, itself, began to report information on cardiac surgery because the Commissioner of Health noticed wide variations in mortality rate and complications reported by different hospitals in the state. (more…)