New technique identifies ‘hot’ disease in arteries that can lead to CV events

 In my obviously non-medical opinion I would think this could be repurposed to identify risks for a subsequent stroke. But since there is NO LEADERSHIP  in stroke, no one will ensure such research gets accomplished. Nothing will occur, you'll just have to accept your second stroke as inevitable since the complete stroke medical world is totally fucking incompetent.

Oops, I'm not playing by the polite rules of Dale Carnegie,  'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. 

Telling supposedly smart stroke medical persons they know nothing about stroke is a no-no even if it is true. 

Politeness will never solve anything in stroke. Yes, I'm a bomb thrower and proud of it. Someday a stroke 'leader' will try to ream me out for making them look bad by being truthful, I look forward to that day.

New technique identifies ‘hot’ disease in arteries that can lead to CV events

Using noninvasive 18F-sodium fluoride PET and coronary CTA to detect “hot” disease in arteries, researchers were able to predict which patients with recent MI would have recurrent coronary events.

PET “is often used in cancer; it uses positrons to produce a signal so you can see externally the biology of what’s going on in the body without inserting catheters,” David E. Newby, MD, British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, U.K., said during a press conference at the European Society of Cardiology Congress. “What we’ve done is develop a technique using a slightly different tracer, 18F-sodium fluoride. What it does is bind to hardening within the coronary arteries and identify areas of active disease in the arteries. It’s not like a calcium score ... on a CT scan. This is activity of the plaque itself. This is potentially the first technique where we can actually see externally, using a PET CT scan, whether a patient’s coronary arteries are ‘hot’ and inflamed and might cause a heart attack. It’s lighting up just the area that’s got the nasty disease in it.”

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Traditionally, prediction of future CV events in patients with MI is done by the GRACE score or by an invasive angiogram to assess for narrow arteries, he said. “The problem with these things is that scores are imprecise and the angiogram looks at narrowings, but we know that most recurrent heart attacks are from artery disease that is not narrowed.”

David E. Newby

For the PRE¹⁸FFIR study, Newby and colleagues performed noninvasive 18F-sodium fluoride PET and coronary CTA on 704 patients with recent MI and multivessel disease (4% single-vessel, 55% two-vessel, 34% three-vessel, 7% left main). The clinical endpoints of interest were CHD death, MI, all-cause death and stenting or CABG. Median follow-up was 4 years.

There were 712 patients who attended the baseline visit. Six had an incomplete PET scan (three due to claustrophobia, one due to panic attack, one due to anxiety and one due to system malfunction) and two were lost to follow-up, according to the presentation.

“We showed that if we use this technique, we can actually predict the future risk of these patients of having a heart attack, of dying or of dying from heart disease in particular,” Newby said at the press conference. “What we didn’t see was whether somebody would have a stent put in.”

The patients were stratified by whether they had a lot of active disease (“hot arteries”) or not (“cold arteries”). Compared with those with cold arteries, those with hot arteries had elevated risk for CHD death/MI (HR = 1.82; 95% CI, 1.07-3.1; P = .03; log-rank P = .025) and all-cause death (HR = 2.43; 95% CI, 1.15-5.12; P = .02; log-rank P = .016), according to the researchers. There was no difference between the groups in revascularization.

“This is the first real demonstration in a robust, multicenter international study showing that we can see ‘hot’ plaques that are going to cause problems downstream,” Newby said at the press conference. “We’ve used a technique that is widely available in cancer but can now be applied readily to cardiology patients. And it picks out the people at the highest risk of a future event. It helps in terms of counseling the patient. It also helps in terms of escalating treatments, because we have an awful lot of treatments. And it also is a technique we potentially could use test new drugs against to see if we can prevent further recurrent heart attacks.”

New link between gut microbiome and artery hardening discovered

How exactly is your doctor removing your hardening of your arteries?

Any of these? Does s/he know of any of them?

1.  Want to Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease? Try Eating Watermelon May 2023

2.  Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation  June 2004

3.  Cranberry juice consumption may protect against cardiovascular disease  October 2015

 

4.  Drinking low-calorie cranberry juice may help lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke July 2015

5.  Black Raspberry Extract Increased Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Improved Arterial Stiffness in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial April 2016

New link between gut microbiome and artery hardening discovered

The level of diversity of the 'good bacteria' in our digestive systems has been found to be linked to a feature of cardiovascular disease – hardening of the arteries – in new research by experts at the University of Nottingham and King's College London.

The gut microbiome is under increasing scrutiny in medical research as it is known to affect many different aspects of our health, including our metabolism and auto-immune system. A lack of diversity or range of healthy bacteria in the gut has previously been linked to various health problems, including diabetes, obesity and inflammatory stomach and bowel diseases.

Now for the first time, researchers have found a link between gut bacteria and arterial stiffening which suggests that targeting the microbiome through diet, medication and probiotics may be a way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The British Heart Foundation and MRC-funded research has been published in the European Heart Journal.

The gut microbiome has been implicated in a variety of potential disease mechanisms including inflammation which can predispose people to heart disease. The hardening of the arteries that happens at different rates in different people as we age, is known to be a factor in cardiovascular risk.

The researchers examined medical data from a group of 617 middle-aged female twins from the TwinsUK registry – a national registry of adult twins recruited as volunteers for data-based research. Measurements of arterial stiffening using a gold-standard measure called carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity (PWV) were analysed alongside data on the composition of the gut microbiomes of the women.

The results of the analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation in all the women between the diversity of the microbes in the gut and the health of the arteries. After adjusting for metabolic variations and blood pressure, the measure of arterial stiffness was higher in women with lower diversity of healthy bacteria in the gut. The research also identified specific microbes which were linked to a lower risk of arterial stiffening. These microbes have also previously been associated with a lower risk of obesity.

Dr. Ana Valdes, from the University of Nottingham's School of Medicine and NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, said: "We know that a substantial proportion of serious cardiovascular events like heart attacks are not explained by traditional risk factors such as obesity and smoking, particularly in younger people and in women and that arterial stiffness is related to risk in those groups. So our results reveal the first observation in humans linking the gut microbes and their products to lower arterial stiffness. It is possible that the gut bacteria can be used to detect risk of heart disease and may be altered by diet or drugs to reduce the risk."

Dr. Cristina Menni, from the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London, said: "There is considerable interest in finding ways to increase the diversity of gut microbes for other conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Our findings now suggest that finding dietary interventions to improve the healthy bacteria in the gut could also be used to reduce the risk of heart disease."

The research concludes that cardiovascular risk that is not explained by the usual risk factors could in the future be enhanced by analysing the health of the gut microbiome. This could be particularly useful in stratifying cardiovascular risk in younger people and in women. The gut microbiome could also be the target for nutrition-based health interventions – for example, a high-fibre diet is known to improve the quantity and diversity of useful microbes in the gut. In fact, the composition of the gut microbiome may contribute to the mechanism whereby dietary fibre intake influences cardiovascular risk, but more research into this mechanism is needed.

Explore further: Omega 3 helps the gut stay healthy, study finds

More information: Cristina Menni et al. Gut microbial diversity is associated with lower arterial stiffness in women, European Heart Journal (2018). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehy226

Journal reference: European Heart Journal

Provided by: University of Nottingham

Aspirin use has modest or no benefit for patients with hardened arteries, UF Health researchers find

How is your doctor testing that aspirin is actually working as expected for you?
https://www.mdlinx.com/family-medicine/medical-news-article/2017/06/07/aspirin-atherosclerosis-plaque-arteries/7203362/?

UF Health

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A team led by a University of Florida Health researcher has found that aspirin may provide little or no benefit for certain patients who have plaque buildup in their arteries.

The researchers tracked the health histories of over 33,000 patients with atherosclerosis and determined that aspirin is marginally beneficial for those who have had a previous heart attack, stroke or other blood–flow issues involving arteries. However, among atherosclerosis patients with no prior heart attack or stroke, aspirin had no apparent benefit.

The findings were published May 18 in the journal Clinical Cardiology.

Because the findings are observational, further study that includes clinical trials are needed before definitively declaring that aspirin has little or no effect on certain atherosclerosis patients, said Anthony Bavry, MD, an associate professor in the UF College of Medicine’s department of medicine and a cardiologist at UF Health and the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville.

“Aspirin therapy is widely used and embraced by cardiologists and general practitioners around the world. This takes a bit of the luster off the use of aspirin,” Bavry said.

Bavry said the findings do not undercut aspirin’s vital role in more immediate situations: If a heart attack or stroke is underway or suspected, patients should still take aspirin as a treatment measure.

“The benefit of aspirin is still maintained in acute events like a heart attack or a stroke,” he said.

Among more than 21,000 patients who had a previous heart attack or stroke, researchers found that the risk of subsequent cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke was marginally lower among aspirin users.

For those atherosclerosis patients who had not experienced a heart attack or stroke, aspirin appeared to have no effect. The risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke was 10.7 percent among aspirin users and 10.5 percent for non–users.

Patients who enrolled in the nationwide study were at least 45 years old with coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease or peripheral vascular disease. Their medical data were collected between late 2003 and mid–2009.

The researchers did identify one group that got some benefit from aspirin — people who had a coronary bypass or stent but no history of stroke, heart attack or arterial blood–flow condition. Those patients should clearly stay on an aspirin regimen, Bavry said. Bavry said discerning aspirin’s effectiveness for various patients is also important because the medicine can create complications, including gastrointestinal bleeding and, less frequently, bleeding in the brain. Because of insufficient data, the current study wasn’t able to address the extent of aspirin’s role in bleeding cases.

The current findings are the second time this year that Bavry and his collaborators have published research about the apparent ineffectiveness of aspirin therapy. In April, the group showed that the drug may not provide cardiovascular benefits for people with peripheral vascular disease, which causes narrowed arteries and reduced blood flow to the limbs.

Bavry also cautioned patients with atherosclerosis or peripheral vascular disease not to quit aspirin therapy on their own. Instead, they should discuss the matter with their physician, he said.

Scientists from France, England and Harvard Medical School collaborated on the research.

Mild CAD - Coronary artery disease

The results from my heart catheterization were that two small arteries were 30% blocked, one other scanned was clear. So no real worry there, my blood pressure pills and statins should keep it at bay. Was really disappointed that there was no mention of foods that can clear the plaque in arteries.
I'm doing all of these, will never know if they work at all.

Watermelon juice reverses hardening of the arteries  

Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation 

Cranberry juice consumption may protect against cardiovascular disease

 

Drinking low-calorie cranberry juice may help lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke

Black Raspberry Extract Increased Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells and Improved Arterial Stiffness in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial 

 

This is way too simplistic, I was in probably the best shape of my life and because of that is why I survived. They should come up with easy tests to measure your unstable plaque and the hardness of your arteries. Those are the real triggers to most strokes. I wish people would learn direct cause and effect.

Controlling your weight is key to lowering stroke risk Image: iStock There is a lot you can do to lower your chances of having a stroke. Even if you've already had a stroke or TIA ("mini-stroke"), you can take steps to prevent another. Controlling your weight is an important way to lower stroke risk. Excess pounds strain the entire circulatory system and can lead to other health conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obstructive sleep apnea. But losing as little as 5% to 10% of your starting weight can lower your blood pressure and other stroke risk factors. Get your copy of Stroke Protect your brain: That’s the strategy that Harvard doctors recommend in this report on preventing and treating stroke. Whether you’ve already had a mini-stroke or a major stroke, or have been warned that your high blood pressure might cause a future stroke, this report provides help and advice. Of course, you'll need to keep the weight off for good, not just while you're on a diet. The tips below can help you shed pounds and keep them off: Move more. Exercise is one obvious way to burn off calories. But another approach is to increase your everyday activity wherever you can — walking, fidgeting, pacing while on the phone, taking stairs instead of the elevator. Skip the sipped calories. Sodas, lattes, sports drinks, energy drinks, and even fruit juices are packed with unnecessary calories. Worse, your body doesn't account for them the way it registers solid calories, so you can keep chugging them before your internal "fullness" mechanism tells you to stop. Instead, try unsweetened coffee or tea, or flavor your own sparkling water with a slice of lemon or lime, a sprig of fresh mint, or a few raspberries. Eat more whole foods. If you eat more unprocessed foods — such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains — you'll fill yourself up on meals that take a long time to digest. Plus, whole foods are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber and tend to be lower in salt — which is better for your blood pressure, too. Find healthier snacks. Snack time is many people's downfall — but you don't have to skip it as long as you snack wisely. Try carrot sticks as a sweet, crunchy alternative to crackers or potato chips, or air-popped popcorn (provided you skip the butter and salt and season it with your favorite spices instead). For a satisfying blend of carbs and protein, try a dollop of sunflower seed butter on apple slices. For more information on lifestyle changes you can make to help prevent a stroke, buy Stroke, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School. Share this story: