Category: heart-letter

Smoking adversely affects the quality of leg veins used to bypass blockages in the heart’s arteries, increasing the risk of graft failure.

Eating a heart-healthy diet after a heart attack or stroke can dramatically lower the risk of having a fatal or nonfatal second heart attack or stroke, or developing heart failure.

Strokes that produce only mild symptoms still damage brain cells. The accumulated damage from several mild strokes may be harmful and irreversible. Anyone who experiences the symptoms of stroke, no matter how mild, should call 911.

Problems in manufacturing occasionally occur with both generic and brand-name drugs. FDA protocols enable problems to be caught quickly and remedied immediately.

After receiving a bioprosthetic heart valve, using warfarin for three to six months can lower the risk of a blood clot without increasing the risk of unwanted bleeding.

A pill that contains several different heart medications is being investigated as a way to help people take the medicines they need.

Light-to-moderate smoking doubles the risk of sudden death in women. In women with heart disease, quitting smoking lowers the risk to that of nonsmokers in 15 to 20 years.

Taking a daily multivitamin does not reduce the rate of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, revascularization, or death. It may lower the risk of cancer by 8%.

High-intensity interval training offers an excellent cardiovascular workout. Anyone with heart disease who has not been very active and wants to try this approach should have a stress test first.

Anyone at risk for complications from the heart-lung machine during open-heart surgery should have the procedure performed without it, or “off-pump.” For everyone else, whether or not to use the pump should be left up to the surgeon.