Let’s Talk About… MRIs

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a type of testing used to diagnose and track treatment of various diseases without using radiation. Instead, MRIs use magnets and radio waves to form the images.

MRIs have other advantages over computed tomography (CT) scans and x-rays. The most important advantage is that MRIs can provide a greater contrast between the bones and the soft body tissues, like ligaments and muscles.

X-rays have been around for more than a century now; MRIs are definitely the new kids on the block. They won’t replace x-rays but they can improve a doctor’s ability to diagnose and treat patients.

MRIs may be done with or without a contrast dye, most commonly, gadolinium . If a dye is used, it is injected into your vein and is seen by the doctor as it makes its way through the blood stream. Contrast dye may also be injected directly into a joint so doctors may see what is going on inside.

Who can’t have an MRI

Because MRIs operate with strong magnets, people who have heart pacemakers can’t have an MRI. Doctors would need to find an alternative test in that case.

Also, if you have any of the following, you must mention this to your doctor before undergoing an MRI, because of the metal they may contain, depending on how old they are and what they were made of:

• Clips put in place to treat a brain aneurysm

• Artificial heart valve

• Cochlear implant

• Artificial joint

• Stents placed into arteries to keep them open

The test

An MRI is painless but some people do feel a bit anxious while in the scanner. You are asked to lie on a stretcher, which then slides into the scanner. Some people ask for a mild sedative so they don’t get too anxious while undergoing the test. Also the test can be noisy as the machine does its work. If this disturbs you, you can ask for ear plugs to block the sounds.

Any dangers?

The only dangers involved in MRIs occur if the patients or someone in the room has metal objects on their person.

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Part of the Let’s Talk About… series

Image courtesy PhotoXpress.com

ANGIOPLASTY and STENTING

A new method of measuring blood flow can help to boost the outcome of stents. The measuring of the blood flow can determine where stents need to be implanted.

Studies have shown that this new method is more effective than X-Ray examinations.

If you are considering having this procedure, your health care provider should be made aware of any problems.  Let them know if you have an allergy to shellfish or intravenous dye, have diabetes or kidney disease.

You will find more on this subject by clicking here Angioplasty.

Women’s Health Newsflash: Grab Bag Edition! Brain Activity, Lyme Disease, Brain Workouts, and Angioplasty

Last week, I gave you a women’s health newsflash each day. Here are some interesting tidbits that didn’t exactly lend themselves to a category. Enjoy!

Film Content, Editing & Directing Style Affect Brain Activity, Neuroscientists Show
Using advanced functional imaging methods, New York University neuroscientists have found that certain motion pictures can exert considerable control over brain activity. Moreover, the impact of films varies according to movie content, editing, and directing style. Because the study, which appears in Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind, offers a quantitative neuroscientific assessment of the impact of different styles of filmmaking on viewers’ brains, it may serve as a valuable method for the film industry to better assess its products and offer a new method for exploring how the brain works. Read More >>>

Bad Lyme Bug Spreading: Virulent Strain of Lyme Disease Spreading in U.S., Europe
A virulent strain of Lyme disease germ is spreading in the U.S. and in Europe, a new study shows. It’s not a new strain of Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete or spiral-shaped bacterium that causes Lyme disease. In fact, it was one of the first strains ever identified — found in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with severe Lyme meningitis. Read More >>>

Note: We have a guest post on Lyme disease coming up in the next 2 weeks!

The Daily Turn On: Brain Fitness
Many people correctly consider regular exercise to be an important way to keep their bodies young. But, did you also know the brain must be exercised as well in order to stay young and functioning at its best? As a matter of fact, the brain begins to slow down as early as age 30. Fortunately, we can prevent “apathy” — no matter how slight or unnoticeable — at any age. Read More >>>

Angioplasty Works Well in Women: Doctors’ Assumption of Worse Outcome in Women Appears Incorrect
Doctor’s may think angioplasty and stents work better in men than in women — but women do just as well after artery-unclogging procedures, a Mayo Clinic study shows. As it turns out, women have been doing as well as men for more than a decade. But the widespread assumption that women do worse after angioplasty means that women account for only 30% of the 1 million artery-opening procedures performed each year in the U.S. This despite the fact that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women. Read More >>>

Do you have a request for a future newsflash? Leave a comment or e-mail me!

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, brain activity, neuroscience, lyme disease, angioplasty, lively women, kristen king

Women’s Health Newsflash: Why Heart Health Is So Important to Women

February is American Heart Month, and I’m teaming up with the rest of the b5media Science and Health Channel to discuss heart health. This issue is of particular importance for women because heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in America today. So, in honor of raising awareness of heart health, today’s Women’s Health Newsflash is all about the heart. Because who has time to read it all? Here’s what you need to know about recent women’s heart health news.

Heart Disease May Be On The Rise Again, After Years Of Decline, Population Research Shows

Autopsies of individuals in one Minnesota County suggest that the decades-long decline in the rate of coronary artery disease may have ended and possibly reversed after 2000, according to a new report. “Over the past century, the rate of death due to heart disease in the United States rose until the mid 1960s when it began a steady decline, which continues today,” the authors write as background information in the article. These declines appear to be accompanied by reductions in the incidence and death rates of coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease, characterized by blockages in the vessels that supply blood to the heart. Read more >>>

Dangerous Duo: Hostility Plus Depression Elevates Risk For Heart Disease

Researchers led by Jesse Stewart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis, report that hostility and depression appear to act together in a complex way to elevate inflammatory proteins in the human body, possibly putting hostility plus depression on the list of risk factors for heart disease along with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and smoking. The findings, that hostility enhances inflammatory processes relevant to heart disease only in the presence of depressive symptoms, are published in the February-March 2008 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. Read more >>>

More Heart Deaths in Nation’s Future? Obesity Blamed for Increased Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

In the U.S., a decades-long trend toward less heart disease has ended — and may now be going the other way. The finding comes from an unexpected source — autopsies of the heart arteries of 425 people aged 16 to 64 who died in accidents, homicides, or from other “non-natural causes” from 1981 to 2004. Year after year, Mayo Clinic researcher Cynthia L. Leibson, PhD, and colleagues found less heart disease in these non-elderly adults — until 1995. At that point, the downward trend ended. “The prevalence of coronary artery disease is not continuing to decline,” Leibson tells WebMD. Read more >>>

New Heart Attack Treatment Vacuums Blood Clots From Blocked Arteries

A tiny vacuum threaded through an artery sucks blood clots away from the heart, improving outcomes for heart attack patients. Blood clots in the heart arteries cause heart attacks, angina, and other problems. The current treatment — balloon angioplasty with wire-mesh stents to prop open the artery — has enormously increased the chances of surviving a heart attack. Now, the odds of surviving a heart attack may be even better. Instead of using a balloon to squash the clot against the sides of the artery, a new technique allows doctors to vacuum away the clot. Read more >>>

Don’t forget to enter to win the Meg Cabot Mysteries Giveaway!

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health, woman, health, headlines, heart disease, american heart month, number 1 killer of women

Drug-Eluding Stents Prove To Be Effective

The verdict is in? Well, for now anyway. Drug-eluding stents are just as safe and beneficial as their “bare naked” metal counterparts. There has finally been a study that examined the effectiveness of the drug coated stents. The only problem is that the research has only followed the patients for a year post intervention.

No worries though, the researchers out of Rhode Island Hospital will continue to follow the patients for time to come. Let’s hope that the results continue to be favorable for the little drug coated metal miracles.

read more here…

Genetics and Health in Washington DC

Hi everyone!

Sorry I’ve been incommunicado these last two weeks.  My day time job has taken up every waking hour plus some!  Anyway, I’m in Washington right now enjoying the Advamed Medical Devices conference.  Jeez, these delegates are geniuses!  I’ve seen the future of diagnostics and it looks gooood!

As a taster I’ve seen nano devices able to deliver drugs to solid tumours only, sparing the good tissue; chip technology able to test for all infectious diseases  in one go; stents to prevent epidurals going wrong; tests to identify ectopic pregnancies early; tests for early diagnosis of heart disease, devices to make surgeons jobs easier etc etc etc.  Wow!  I have to stress this conference is all about tests/devices that still need to go through clinical trials so they won’t be out for a couple of years.

I’ll be writing some more about these advances once I’m back home.

Take care!

Penny

Heart Disease Is Too Scary, Even For A Cardiac Nurse

I have a sad but very true wake up call for all who think that heart disease is “just another hospital stay”. Now, I know that most of you understand the importance and seriousness of cardiac issues, but after thinking about this all day yesterday and most of last night, I feel the need to share it with you.

I had a female patients who at 51 years old has had 2 bypass’, 5 way each, surgeries, 16 stents placed, 18 catherizations in all, 5 MI’s, and an EF, ejection fraction, of 25%. So…. she might be able to squeeze in 1 more bypass, but with the heart muscle being compromised that is chancy.

She did indeed have a negative stress test on this admission, which is good, but how darn scary! I sat with her a bit yesterday afternoon and we spoke about diet, exercise and lifestyles, as well as the familial presence behind heart disease.

I asked her if she has put herself on the transplant list. Her answer was a very profound no. What? “I have had so many procedures, take so many medicines, have to live in such a way that if they can do another bypass, that’s great, and if not, I guess I will be in the hands of God”.

Wow! I was at a loss for words for a second, which NEVER happens. I guess when you have had enough, you have had enough. Even at the very young age of 51. Heart disease is no joke!

What would you do if this was you? Would you want a transplant or would you leave it up to a higher power?

Nursing certainly keeps it all in perspective for me, that’s for sure!

DNA Films for Gene Therapy

Layering DNA is a hot technique. Over the weekend, I wrote about coating organs with DNA to improve transplant success. University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have also developed nanoscale films made up of DNA and water-soluble polymers. The design allows them to deliver DNA directly into cells as a form of gene therapy. The DNA film can be manipulated by adding multiple layers with each layer capable of carrying a different type of DNA sequence. The time point of release can be manipulated by altering the polymer structure.

Thus far, they’ve applied the DNA films to cardiac stents which are typically used in angioplasties to open clogged arteries. Some types of cardiac stents have a coating of drugs that help to prevent the growth of smooth muscle cells over the stent (restenosis) and clotting that can lead to heart attacks. Stents coated with the DNA nanofilm were tested in rabbits and a gene that fluoresces was successfully delivered into a rabbit’s artery showing that the nanofilm appears to behave the way researchers expected.

Traditionally, gene therapy has relied on using viruses as vectors for delivering DNA. If inert substances like polymer films can be used, it would eliminate some of the side effects associated with using viral vectors and perhaps result in greater precision as well.

Tags: genetics, genes, genome, dna, gene therapy, diseases, illness, health, medicine, cardiac stents

Stents or Drugs? Same Difference

Just when we learn that a new generation of heart stents may soon make angioplasty safer, results from the COURAGE clinical trial of over 2,000 patients shows that medication and angioplasty were equally effective in treating stable coronary disease. Called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), angioplasty to treat clogged arteries did not appear to reduce the risk of death, myocardial infarction, or other major cardiovascular events over optimal medical therapy involving medication and lifestyle modifications.

The problem is that many patients may show a blocked artery upon imaging and be referred for angioplasty even if they’ve never experienced any symptoms. Angioplasty does seem to relieve symptoms in patients who have angina or can save the life of those experiencing a heart attack. But for those who are asymptomatic, the following changes for preventing myocardial infarction and death should be considered first:

• Lower cholesterol levels
• Taking aspirin, beta-blockers, and/or ACE inhibitors
• Lose weight
• Quit smoking
• Exercise

New England Journal of Medicine, March 26, 2007
Boston Medical News

*As an aside, don’t you think it’s annoying when people say “same difference”? There is no difference if it’s the same. Or is it the lack of difference that makes it the same?!

HT: Sara

Tags: angioplasty, heart, heart disease, arteries, diseases, illness, medicine, health, stents

Celebrating One Year at A Hearty Life

One year ago this month, A Hearty Life was born. Since then, I have written 552 posts talking about the heart and the strange and wonderful things we humans do to it. Strange because it seems that more people than I ever thought get stabbed in the heart every day, including Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. Wonderful because cardiovascular medicine has advanced steadily over the years, such as the use of statins, stents, and advanced imaging.

To celebrate A Hearty Life’s first anniversary, I will be donating US$1 per 1,000 page views for the month of March. In February, readers viewed over 50,000 pages. I hope to increase that even further this month and make a sizeable donation to the British Heart Foundation. I’ve selected the British Heart Foundation because I currently live in London, UK and want to donate to the community.

Thank you all for the continued support. I always love to hear from you in the comments or via email. Please help me spread the word and invite everyone you know to come read A Hearty Life. It will not only be good for their health, but also good for public health.

Tags: fundraiser, british heart foundation, heart, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diseases, illness, health, medicine

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