Atherectomy – leading edge device unclogs blocked arteries
by Ann-Marie Waters, Associate Editor.
An ultrasonic device tiny enough to navigate the arteries of the human heart, could enable doctors to perform a far safer job of cleaning cholesterol-laden plaque from the walls of the blood-vessels of heart disease patients.
The remote control device – developed by cardiologist Paul G. Yock from Stanford University school of medicine, is set to aid cardiologists from around the world in performing a technique known as ‘atherectomy’ (the removal of plaque from arteries supplying blood to the heart). The ultrasound guide is crucial in the prevention of cardiologists mistakenly cutting into normal blood vessel walls during the operation.
The new device emits sound waves that measure the thickness of the arterial plaque on the vessel wall – if it detects a large amount of plaque then an integral carbide cutting blade slides up the opening of the drill and shaves off a section of the plaque.
The drill can be used in patients with ‘peripheral arterial disease’ a painful condition of the legs commonly known as PAD. Dr. Paul Capito used the drill known as the Jetstream Pathway PV Atherectomy System for the first time on Oct 22nd 2008.
The most common symptom of PAD is pain in the calf muscles, thighs, or buttocks which is triggered by exertion such as walking and exercise. The sufferer’s arteries become narrower through the build up of plaque, preventing sufficient oxygenated blood from reaching the legs. The biggest risk factor for PAD is smoking. Other risk factors are: a lack of exercise, carrying excess weight, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
The potential benefits of this device are already becoming apparent. A recent trial in Germany concluded that 12 patients who used the device found that there was no recurrence of arterial blockages after six months. The procedure is also less invasive than conventional methods and can be repeated at a later date if necessary.
An oven glove to save you from a heart attack!
By Ann-Marie Waters, Associate Editor
A mitten which resembles an oven glove could save lives by speeding up the diagnosis of heart attacks. The glove – called PhysioGlove and developed by an American company called Commwell Inc. is placed on the patient’s left hand and held against their chest. It contains tiny sensors in the material which pick up electrical activity in the heart and relay the information back to a portable heart monitor.
The PhysioGlove allows paramedics to quickly establish whether a patient has suffered a heart attack and the readings are far quicker than the results of an electrocardiogram (ECG). The manufacturers claim that it can perform a complete ECG in less than 60 seconds which is approximately a tenth of the duration of a conventional test!
Unlike the new PhysioGlove – an ECG requires specialised training – i.e. medical staff would need to ensure that 10 electrodes are precisely placed on the patient’s body in the correct position as an electrode would only have to be one millimetre out of place and the vital signs of a heart attack could go undetected. Also an ECG requires a patient’s chest to be shaved prior to attaching electrodes which could steal vital seconds off the process.
New High Definition CT Scanner set to benefit heart patients
A new high definition Computerised Tomograpghy (CT) scanner has today been commissioned at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, United Kingdom, and is set to bring major benefits for the diagnosis and treatment of heart and cardiac patients.
Consultants at the hospital have welcomed it’s installation, commenting that this is a huge step forward. The new scanner will revolutionsie the imaging and treatment of a vast range of medical conditions that require the increased resolution that high definition scans provide.
HD CT Scanner one of only seven worldwide
This is a medical first for the United Kingdom, as the high definition CT scanner is the only one of it’s kind in the country, and only one of two in Europe, and seven in the entire world just now.
The new scanner manufactured by GE Healthcare, a global leader in imaging and in dose reduction technologies, was announced to the World in June 2008 as the first high definition CT scanner. This machine, known as the LightSpeed CT750 HD has obtained U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance and will set the new standard for the clarity of CT scans, allowing the medical profession access to faster, improved medical imaging. It is claimed that the images produced from the machine can even predict the possibility of a stroke in advance.
Dr Neil Derbyshire, consultant radiologist, interviewed on the BBC South Today News program whilst working with the new machine said “we’re getting beautiful pictures of the arteries in the abdomen, and the arteries down the legs”. He continued “Image quality has improved, particularly in certain areas, for example vascular, imaging of the arteries. One of the features of this scanner .. we soon wish to be developing cardiac work”.
Normal CT scans can be grainy and unclear, but a doctor looking at an HD scan can see much more detail over a wider area. They can even see 3D models of organs, so invasive examinations are not necessary.
HD CT major benefit for cardiac and heart disease patients
This has already resulted in the Royal Berkshire Hospital being able to treat patients that it used to send elsewhere. The machine is capable of providing HD scans and processing up to 7 patients per hour, and is now going to be in constant use 24 hours per day. During the daytime it will be used for routine work, and during the night for emergencies.
The new HD scanner will need to work very hard to justify it’s 2.5 million dollar cost, but it’s already letting doctors see enhanced detail in parts of the body that normal CT scanners cannot cope with.
Doctor Derbyshire added “and the new areas that we hope to start scanning are [certainly] the cardiac work which we have not been able to do before, so we hope to scan two to three hundred patients a year, looking at their coronary arteries, better definition of the brain, and another area that we want to start scanning on is the colon”.
With demand for it’s services set to increase, the hospital have purchased only the second scanner to be made available in the United Kingdom as well, and this additional machine is due to come on line in April 2009.
Daylight Savings Time Increases Heart Attack Risk !
Daylight Savings Time – March 8th 2009
With the end of the winter rapidly approaching, we all look forward to lighter evenings, and the additional daylight that the start of Daylight Savings Time, which begins in the United States on March 8th 2009, brings. Around the world an additional 1.5 billion people experience the same seasonal time adjustment each year.
However, a recent scientific study conducted in Sweden, based on nearly twenty years of heart attack data from 1987 to 2006, indicates that when the clocks ‘spring forward’ each year, this increases the risk of heart attack for many of us.
The research was carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and the results were then published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These show that there is an amazing five percent increase in the heart attack statistics in the week after Daylight Savings Time begins.
Sleep Deprivation
The theory for this increase is that during the week after the time changes, most people suffer from sleep deprivation. This is compounded by the effect that a sudden time change has on the body’s sleeping patterns and daily biological rhythms.
With this in mind, you may expect a corresponding reduction in the number of heart attacks suffered during the weeks when the clocks ‘fall back’ in the autumn. However, this was not found to be the case, as the researchers discovered that a reduction in heart attacks also of five percent, only occurred on the first day following the end of daylight savings time.
DST results in reduction of sleep quality and duration
Many people find the bi-annual shift in time zones difficult to adjust to, and suffer a reduction in sleep quality and sleep duration, similar to that experienced with jet lag, only semi-permanent. There is a growing volume of evidence that suggests that this may have detrimental effects on our cardiovascular health.
However in the spring, the time change usually results in an hour of missed sleep, and also disrupts the body’s biological rhythms. Contrast this with the fall, when the end of Daylight savings Time combines a biological disruption, with an opportunity to GAIN some sleep, and this may counter the negative effects of the transition.
Monday most dangerous day of the week for heart attacks
It is also interesting to note that Monday is the day of the week that has been proven to be the most dangerous day of the week, and the most likely for suffering from a heart attack. This is most likely to be a combination of two factors – during Friday and Saturday nights most people tend to go to sleep later, and get up later the following morning. However this means that often they will go to sleep later on Sunday as well, but have to rise earlier on the Monday morning to go to work. This causes them to suffer from sleep deprivation. This is combined on Monday morning with a sudden increase in activity and stress related to the week ahead. This is made even worse during the week of the Daylight Savings Time change, and may account for the statistical increase in the heart attack rate.