Category: heart-letter

Addiction to pain medication makes it hard to monitor and manage pain after heart surgery.

New devices are enabling doctors to repair loose mitral valves without the need for open-heart surgery. Several devices are in development, and one of them, MitraClip, is now being tested in clinical trials in the United States.

When blood pressure remains high despite the use of three antihypertensive medications, additional medications need to be added until blood pressure responds. Restricting salt and increasing exercise may help.

Green tea can significantly lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and this may explain why green tea drinkers have a lower risk of coronary artery disease and death from heart disease and stroke.

Older people with chronic kidney disease often develop heart disease, since atherosclerosis can affect the arteries of both organs.

For individuals with a serious disease like heart failure, making decisions in advance about life-sustaining measures and medical decision-making can help ensure their wishes are followed.

Five strategies can pave the way to a smooth recovery after bypass surgery: staying as active as possible before surgery, quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet full of protein, staying positive, and taking your heart medicines as prescribed.

In people who received a cardiac stent more than a year earlier, it is safe to stop clopidogrel use before elective surgery, and possibly permanently.

In coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), the internal mammary (or thoracic) artery is the graft of choice for bypassing blockages in the main coronary artery, because it tends to remain open and functioning well for many years.

The risk of heart complications in people with kidney disease may be reduced as much as 20% by lowering cholesterol with medications.