Acute Coronary Syndromes

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is most commonly caused by a heart attack (myocardial infarction) where blood flow to the heart is suddenly blocked. This is usually caused by a blood clot from a ruptured coronary artery atherosclerotic plaque. Other causes include spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), which most commonly occurs in women. ACS is usually treated in a cath lab with angioplasty and the placement of a stent to prop the vessel open.

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Mental illness strongly linked with higher CVD mortality

The associations between schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and cardiovascular mortality have grown in recent decades.

Deaths from MI, stroke and pulmonary embolism are down among kidney patients receiving dialysis

The new analysis, published in JAMA Network Open, focused on more than 220,000 dialysis patients treated from 1998 to 2015. 

PCI

Is PCI without stenting safe for low-risk STEMI patients?

The study's authors examined data from the DANAMI-3 trial, focusing on such outcomes as all-cause mortality, recurrent MI and target vessel revascularization.

A late-breaking study at ACC.22 showed differences in COVID-positive heart attack patients between 2020 and 2021. #ACC22 #ACC2022

VIDEO: Vaccines boosted survival among STEMI heart attack patients with COVID-19

Santiago Garcia, MD, lead author of the study and director of the structural heart program at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, presented new data from the North American COVID-19 STEMI (NACMI) registry at ACC.22. Severity of heart attacks were reduced in vaccinated patients, with zero deaths in vaccinated patients in 2021.

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PCI vs. CABG for left main disease: Key takeaways from a new meta-analysis

Researchers explored data from five different randomized controlled trials, publishing their analysis in the American Journal of Cardiology.

TAVR vs. surgery, FFR-guided PCI and DCB safety: Day 3 at ACC.22

Read our in-person coverage of the final day of ACC.22.

Cardiology groups debut new heart failure guidelines ahead of ACC.22

The new recommendations went live just ahead of ACC.22. They can be read in full in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation or Journal of Cardiac Failure.

Depression linked to a higher stroke risk among heart attack survivors

The new findings, based on data from nearly 500,000 patients, were presented during ACC.22.

Around the web

Several key trends were evident at the Radiological Society of North America 2024 meeting, including new CT and MR technology and evolving adoption of artificial intelligence.

Ron Blankstein, MD, professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, explains the use of artificial intelligence to detect heart disease in non-cardiac CT exams.