Know your diagnostic tools: coronary calcium scan
What is a coronary calcium scan?
A coronary calcium scan is a diagnostic tool that looks for the calcium deposits in the walls arteries of the heart.
Archive for the Arterial Disease category
Remembering Tim Russert
Instead of featuring a heart(y) celebrity this month, I would like to pay my respects to Tim Russert of NBC.
I was travelling around Western Europe when I heard of his unexpected death. Even here in the old continent, his name and face was known, especially among the English-speaking community. Russert was a respected political journalist whose opinion carried a lot of weight in the political scene.
A New Device to Analyze Plaques
At last, a new device to help those with coronary heart disease. Coronary arteries are the main blood vessels which supply your heart muscles with their well-needed blood rich in oxygen. Unfortunately, these blood vessels can get clogged up by deposits of plaques. Plaques are made up of cholesterol-rich fat molecules, calcium and cellular debris in the blood. Plaque deposits can cause the coronary arteries to get narrow and can damage blood vessel walls, or cut off blood supply to the heart. Plaques can be classified in two categories:
- Hard plaques tend to stay in play and make arterial walls thick, hard, and inflexible - resulting in atherosclerosis.
- Soft plaques are more unstable and have lipid cores . These fatty deposits on arterial walls have the tendency to rupture or break off and get carried by the blood flow. They are then transported to other parts of the body can cause blood clots and result in a partial or total obstruction of an artery and cut off the blood supply to tissues and to vital organs such as the brain, the liver, or the kidney. When fatty plaques in the coronary artery rupture, blood clots can form which can lead to heart attacks.
Is there a link between peripheral arterial disease and vitamin D?
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a medical condition wherein arteries in the lower extremities - the legs - become narrow or clogged up with fatty deposits. This results in reduced flow to the legs.
A recent study by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City on 4839 American adults show that people with higher levels of vitamin D are less likely to have PAD than those with lower levels of the vitamin
Heavy drinking: bad for both male and female hearts
Heavy drinking is bad for the heart and for the arteries. Furthermore, heavy alcohol consumption affects men and women differently - although in the long run, the effects are never beneficial. This is according to a report presented at American Society of Hypertension 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA in May.
Men: Heavy drinking among men leads to elevated blood pressure. Chronic high blood pressure then leads to stiffening of the arteries.
Heart Diseases: New Guidelines for Detection and Treatment of Arterial Disease
By Hector Milla
The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association launched different guidelines related to peripheral arterial disease in order to help doctors and all healthcare professionals to treat in a better way this common condition. According to statistics, more than 12 million people suffer from Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) in the United States.
PAD is a really serious illness, since it can cause amputation of the extremities, rupture of an aortic aneurysm, severe hypertension, kidney failure, but also heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death.
Raquel Billiones has a PhD in Biology and has over 15 years experience as a researcher, scientific English teacher, and medical writer. Since 2006, she has been a freelance WAHM specializing in medical writing and scientific documentation. 
