10
votes
Accepted
Aspirin for prevention of heart attacks?
This is a good and pragmatic question.
Just to give some insight, the benefits of aspirin in high risk patients (with acute or previous vascular disease or some other predisposing condition) are ...
- 2,322
9
votes
Should all persons with diabetes get statins?
In short, no. It is important to understand the meaning of risk and the balance of possible harm caused versus positive effect made by an intervention.
Patients with diabetes have higher risk of ...
- 2,322
8
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between Eisenmenger syndrome and ventricular septal defect?
Ventricular septal defect
A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a congenital defect of the central wall (septum) of the heart. This septum divides the right ventricle of the heart from the left ...
- 2,331
7
votes
Aspirin / statin for preventing coronary heart disease in prediabetes?
It is difficult to say, because the matter is controversial and in both cases it is still being investigated. The general rule for any medicine is that the benefits should outweigh the risks. (1) Both ...
- 2,823
7
votes
What is the difference between Eisenmenger syndrome and ventricular septal defect?
Eisenmenger syndrome is a clinical syndrome. A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is an anatomic lesion. They are related in that Eisenmenger syndrome can be caused by a VSD (among other things).
VSD
A ...
- 3,153
7
votes
Accepted
Is Myocarditis infectious?
Myocarditis itself is not a virus nor is it contagious - the term refers an inflammation of the myocardium (a.k.a. the heart muscle). A viral infection is probably the most common cause of myocarditis ...
- 1,252
7
votes
How does a prosthetic heart valve "burst"?
There are a number of different heart valve prostheses, and the age and type of the valve in question would make answering the question somewhat easier and more specific. Prosthetic heart valves are ...
- 115
6
votes
Who should take statins for prevention of heart disease and stroke?
I can offer a UK perspective on this, using guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE): Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid ...
- 2,331
6
votes
Accepted
What is the best cooking oil for a person with ischemic heart disease?
To make it simple: There are two types of fat: unsaturated ("good fat") and saturated and trans fat ("bad fat").
Current dietary guidelines (American Heart Association, WHO) suggest that saturated ...
- 3,193
5
votes
Accepted
Is olive leaf extract dangerous for low blood pressure?
First, I should say that I think this question should be closed. It's clearly a request for personal medical advice, but apparently no one else shares that view, so I'll go ahead and answer.
I ...
- 9,346
5
votes
Accepted
Fainted history in both myself and my father. Can it be related?
There is, unfortunately, no yes or no answer to this, especially not on-line. However, these information can help:
There can be various underlying causes of fainting, mostly cardiovascular or ...
- 2,823
5
votes
Accepted
Can Prediabetes cause coronary heart disease?
I checked myself and found that yes, prediabetes is also a risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Prediabetes is the condition when fasting blood sugar is 100-125 mg/dl or 2 hour blood sugar is 140-...
- 1,760
5
votes
Why is there not enough research on heart stent and exercise?
Why is there not enough research on heart stent and exercise?
There is research of stents and exercise! How much is enough?
In fact there are exercise programmes, known as cardiac rehabilitation ...
- 701
5
votes
Accepted
Why is the crescendo-decrescendo systolic murmur best heard at the cardiac base?
It's not, unless you are using the term "base" to refer to the aortic root of the heart rather than the apex.
A systolic "crescendo-decrescendo murmur" is the classic description for the murmur ...
- 5,694
5
votes
Accepted
Is the number of push-ups a person can do a good risk estimate for heart attacks?
Yes, or at least, that's what this article in a reputable medical journal says and there is no reason to be more skeptical of it than the normal skepticism that any isolated article deserves.
The 10 ...
- 11.9k
5
votes
If high cholesterol does not cause as atherosclerosis? Then what does?
The mentioned paper has been published in BMJ Open in 2015: The Association Between Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Mortality in the Elderly. A systematic review.
The NHS article mentions the ...
- 15.6k
5
votes
If high cholesterol does not cause as atherosclerosis? Then what does?
The NHS page you linked to does quite a good job of explaining why the study that puts forward the claim that there isn't a link doesn't actually quite say that with any degree of certainty. They are ...
- 1,252
4
votes
Avoiding acute mountain sickness, high altitude pulmonary & cerebral edema
I checked literature on this and found that following general measures are helpful to prevent acute mountain sickness, high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) and high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE):
...
- 1,760
4
votes
Do all very old people have heart failure?
Maybe. Depends on the 95-year old... and the 25-year old. A heart failure diagnosis isn't just the process of getting older; it has objective criteria. I expect most 95-year olds would score above ...
- 9,346
4
votes
Do all very old people have heart failure?
Can aging of the heart be equivalent to having (mild) heart failure?
Absolutely. A large part of aging is the process of telomeres shortening with each cell division, making our DNA more vulnerable. ...
- 385
4
votes
Accepted
Max heart rate questions
Currently, there is no definitive way to predict maximum heart rate for a single individual. There are formulae that can give an approximation, but about the only way to get a good estimate on a ...
- 6,540
4
votes
Accepted
What heart conditions cause dizziness after/during exercise?
Dizziness or giddiness during exercise is classically caused by obstruction to the outflow of the heart i.e. aortic stenosis (see MedlinePlus). This condition is most commonly seen in either young ...
- 1,760
4
votes
What is the difference between Eisenmenger syndrome and ventricular septal defect?
Apart from information on differences given in two excellent answers here, there is a major difference in treatment of these two conditions.
Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) before development of ...
- 1,760
4
votes
Accepted
Difference between acyanotic and cyanotic
Cyanosis refers to a blue discolouration of the skin caused by hypoxia (inadequate oxygenation of the arterial blood supply). It is the presence or absence of this hypoxia that is actually the ...
- 2,331
3
votes
Accepted
How serious is the risk of second hand smoke?
Unfortunately, you can't make a probabilistic estimate if you will contract heart disease or some form of cancer - there are too many variables to consider. How big is the room? How many people are ...
- 385
3
votes
Assessing the risk of heart attacks and similar conditions
Following were independent risk factors found in the large Interheart study (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2804%2917018-9/abstract):
1. Smoking
2. Diabetes
3. High ...
- 1,760
3
votes
Coagulation problems in blue babies
I checked and found following coagulation problems may occur in patients with congenital cyanotic heart diseases (commonest example tetralogy of Fallot):
Thrombotic episodes may occur due to:
...
- 1,760
3
votes
Clot-busting drugs versus balloon angioplasty for heart attack patients reaching early in hospital
There are three types of heart attacks: unstable angina pectoris, non-ST-elevation myocardial infarct (NSTEMI) and ST-elevation myocardial infarct (STEMI). Choosing between thrombolysis and ...
- 2,322
3
votes
Accepted
If you are told you're going to have a heart attack in one month, what can you do now to prevent it?
There's very little you could do in terms of lifestyle changes. Quitting smoking, stopping excessive drinking, and stopping the use of stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines are the only things I ...
- 9,346
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible