British Heart Foundation

Leave a comment Posted on October 4, 2014October 6, 2014 Cardiovascular disease, Patient Talk, Research

One stop shop is better for heart attack victims – How a UK hospital changed the American College of Cardiology’s advice for the treatment of heart attack victims

Coronary Revascularisation Research

A study led by a research team at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester has prompted the American College of Cardiology (ACC) to revise its advice for the treatment of heart attack victims.

Professor Tony Gershlick presented the CVLPRIT study’s findings at the European Society of Cardiology, the biggest cardiology conference in the world. The study, led by Professor Gershlick and Senior Co-Investigator, Dr Gerry McCann, revealed that by treating heart attack patients who have two or three narrowed arteries with additional stents during the same operation, results in a reduction of major complications within 12 months by more than 50%.

The ACC had previously issued a list of “do-not-do” procedures in April 2012 as part of the Choosing Wisely campaign issued by the American Board of Internal Medicine. In an unusual move, following Prof. Gershlick’s presentation, this is the first time that the list has been revised.

“Science is not static but rather constantly evolving,” ACC President Dr Patrick T O’Gara said in a statement. “As such, one of the ACC’s primary roles is to stay abreast of this evolution and provide cardiovascular professionals and patients with the most up-to-date information on which to base decisions about the most appropriate and necessary treatment. The newest findings regarding coronary revascularization are great examples of science on the move, and we are responding accordingly.”

Coronary Revascularisation is the restoration of perfusion (the process of delivering blood to tissue) to a body part or organ that has suffered ischemia (a restriction in the blood supply which causes a shortage of oxygen and glucose and leads to the tissue dying).

The CvLPRIT trial took place at the Glenfield Hospital and was funded by the British Heart Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research.

Prof. Gershlick said “30-40% of heart attack patients also have a narrowing in another artery which at that point in time, isn’t causing a heart attack. So, it has always been difficult to know whether to treat the other artery at the same time as treating the blocked artery. Previous data has always been conflicting but there was some that suggested there may be benefits to treating everything all at once, so we designed a study specifically to look into it.” The ACC also considered a previous UK study, the PRAMI trial which also indicated benefit from treating everything all at once.

1 Comment Posted on September 29, 2014 Cardiovascular disease, Patient Talk, Research

10 Tips for a Healthy Heart. Check them out and you can help prevent coronary heart disease (CHD) this World Heart Day.

Tips for reducing the risk of heart disease!

As I sat down to work today I had a look over the BBC’s health news to see what the issues of teh day might be. The main headline was “Heart disease warnings ‘missed‘” . I’d also forgotten that today is World Heart Day.

Delving further into the article I discovered that the British Heart Foundation had recently organised some survey research and they discovered, to their horror, that 90% of people think that there must be symptoms associated with that “silent killer” high blood pressure.

So I thought it would be a good opportunity to share with you British Heart Foundation’s tips for a healthy heart and to prevent coronary heart disease.

a) Give up smoking. You can find some ideas to help you pack in smoking here.
b) Get your general health road tested by your doctor.
c) Maintain a healthy weight. Read our weight loss tips and blog posts here.
d) Keep active. Pretty hard for many of us but much more for people with chronic pain. You might find this guide to exercise for people with pain useful.
e) Lower your salt consumption. Both in and out of the home.
f) Eat your 5-a-day. Do you?
g) Cut the saturated fat. Find out more about diet and health here.
h) Always read the food labels. You would be amazed at the salt and sugar in processed foods.
i) Cut down on the amount of alcohol you drink. How much do you drink?
j) Watch your portion sizes. Make sure you eat less.

Do you have any tips for our readers? If you do please do feel free to share below in the comments boxes.

Thanks in advance.

Leave a comment Posted on August 29, 2014 Cardiovascular disease, Patient Talk, Research

Healthcare, Social Media and People Power – How patients are helping to find a cure for a rare heart condition called Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD)

Healthcare and social media

Rebecca Breslin, 36, from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, was struck down in March 2012 by spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) – a condition that results from an abnormality in the coronary artery causing the lining of the wall to tear resulting in a heart attack. Despite her diagnosis, her condition is so rare that cardiologists were unable to answer many of her questions and so she took to the internet to find more information.

She discovered just one research project in the world into the condition run by the Mayo Clinic in Massachusetts, USA.

As part of the US study, the research team were trying to establish a virtual registry of SCAD patients. Keen to share her case, Rebecca joined this registry but also saw the potential for other researchers to collaborate with this study, so she also began searching for other British female patients with the hope of establishing a project here in the UK.

Thanks to her efforts in identifying more than 100 patients from the UK, and a further 80 internationally, a grant from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) is now funding a two year study into the condition. The study will be undertaken by a team of researchers at the NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, part of the University of Leicester, based at Glenfield Hospital.

Rebecca said: “This is a great example of people power. SCAD is a devastating condition; some sufferers have been left with heart failure and in other cases, sadly it’s proven fatal. We need answers as to why this happens to people and we hope this project will deliver on that. I’m delighted that we as patients have been able to get this off the ground.”

Dr David Adlam, cardiologist at Leicester’s Hospitals and lead researcher for the project, added: “This situation is unique. We usually struggle to find patients for our studies but this is a highly motivated group of patients who are understandably committed to finding out why this has happened to them and what it means for them and other people in the future.

“What we currently know about SCAD is largely anecdotal. The grant from the BHF will allow us to provide information based on solid science to the medical community and patients, improving diagnosis and management of the condition for patients in the future.”

SCAD is known to affect mostly women and in the majority of cases occurs in women under 50 who are otherwise healthy. In a significant number of cases, the condition occurs around the time of pregnancy or recently after giving birth.

Senior Cardiac Nurse at the BHF, Maureen Talbot explains: “Thankfully this condition is rare. But it can have devastating consequences – particularly in younger women who’ve probably never thought about their heart health before. We hope this research will help to understand this condition better, so we can develop better treatments for it and perhaps even prevent it in the first place.

“In the meantime, if you’re a woman and you’re worried or curious about your heart health, you can visit our Women’s Room – a dedicated online hub full of practical information and where you can talk to other women, just like you. Just visit www.bhf.org.uk/women.”

Patients with this condition can also register their interest in the research program on the SCAD-UK/EU website http://scad.lcbru.le.ac.uk/ or visit http://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/view-publication.aspx?ps=1002532 for further information on SCAD.