Top 10 Heart Advances and Disappointments of 2006 Mar 06 11:02am As is typical, over the past year some heart health news has been good, some disappointing. But all of it demonstrates the fact that our knowledge about the efficacy of preventive measures and treatments is often incomplete and provisional. Each... Read more

ACE Inhibitors Harmful in Pregnancy Mar 03 04:33am Because angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors — a class of medications used to lower high blood pressure — are associated with an increased risk of abnormal pregnancies, they are not prescribed for women in the second and third... Read more

Tips on How to Stop Smoking Mar 01 07:44am Cigarette smoking, and even smoking cigars or a pipe, is one of the greatest risk factors for a heart attack as well as for stroke, lung cancer, and emphysema. Here are some tips to help you stop smoking: Set a quit date. Smoking cessation is most... Read more

High HDL Cholesterol Alone Won't Protect You Feb 24 12:49pm A 44-year-old male patient balked at making any lifestyle changes to lower his elevated LDL (the so-called "bad") cholesterol. I mentioned his bad family history: His older brother and father both had heart attacks in their late 40s. His... Read more

How Big Is Your LDL? Should You Care? Feb 19 10:31pm After I gave a talk on treating high cholesterol levels, a physician in the audience asked me whether it's worthwhile to send blood for lab tests that measure lipoprotein sizes. He was concerned because he rarely did so, while several of his... Read more

Atherosclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis Feb 16 10:29pm Chronic inflammation can cause all sorts of mischief in the body. Now a study has found that people with rheumatoid arthritis - a chronic inflammatory disease - are at greater risk of carotid artery plaques. This makes perfect sense, since... Read more

Antibiotics to Prevent Heart Attacks Feb 10 11:33am Is it possible that a course of antibiotics could cure or prevent some cases of heart disease? Research tells us that inflammation of the vascular wall may be an important factor leading to the development of clogged arteries (atherosclerosis).... Read more

Why You Should Rush to the Hospital with a Heart Attack Feb 03 11:25am If you are experiencing a heart attack, or think you are, you should get to a hospital as quickly as possible. Why? Because if you wait too long, your heart muscle could suffer irreversible damage or, worse, you could have a possibly fatal... Read more

Statins Don't Increase Breast Cancer Risk Jan 30 11:08am Some women who take statins worry about the possibly that these drugs, which are often taken for many years, may increase their risk of breast cancer. Analyses of previous studies have given mixed results on the relationship between statin use and... Read more

Aspirin Plus Clopidogrel (Plavix): Good News and Bad News Jan 26 12:50pm Newspapers have devoted less space to recent findings about treatments with aspirin plus Plavix than they have to current sporting events. Yet this combination of two anti-clotting drugs has generated clinical results every bit as exciting as a... Read more