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Drinking beetroot juice every day for six months after having a stent fitted reduced the chance of angina patients having a heart attack or needing a repeat procedure, according to new research. The researchers found that 16 percent of angina patients had a serious heart or circulatory incident, like a heart attack or need for another procedure, in the two years after having a stent fitted. However, when patients had beetroot juice daily, this dropped to 7.5 percent. Thousands of coronary heart disease patients each year in the UK have a stent implanted, in a procedure known as a percutaneous...

A new study suggests that a "keto-like" diet may be associated with higher blood levels of "bad" cholesterol and a twofold heightened risk of cardiovascular events such as chest pain (angina), blocked arteries requiring stenting, heart attacks and strokes. Proponents of a ketogenic diet suggest limiting carbohydrates to 10% of total daily calories, protein to 20% to 30% and obtaining 60% to 80% of daily calories from fat. Some previous studies have shown that an LCHF diet can lead to elevated levels of LDL cholesterol in some people. Iatan and her colleagues defined an LCHF diet as consisting of no...

The tiny stent sparked a lucrative industry--and made Dr. Samin Sharma a star. Then questions arose about the device's safety and efficacy. On a sweltering summer morning, Dr. Samin K. Sharma marches into the cardiology wing of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, prepared for a 16-hour day in which he will clear and repair the arteries of 18 patients. Sharma specializes in installing stents, tiny metal devices that hold open blocked blood vessels. As he'll be the first to note, he does more stent procedures than anyone else in doctor-rich New York and possibly in the entire country. An...

Before he was elected mayor in 2001, Michael R. Bloomberg had surgery to have two stents implanted in a coronary artery because of blockage in his heart, a person with knowledge of Mr. Bloomberg’s health said last night. Mayor Bloomberg has not had heart disease since the stents were put in, according to this person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Mr. Bloomberg had not authorized release of the information. The mayor is in excellent health today, this person said. Newsweek magazine first reported the implants this week. The person with knowledge of the mayor’s health said the procedure...

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Dec. 8 — A panel of experts recommended Friday that doctors and patients be given stronger warnings about the dangers associated with the use of drug-coated stents in high-risk patients. The panelists also recommended that the Food and Drug Administration warn doctors that if possible, such patients should remain on aspirin and Plavix, an anticlotting drug, for at least a year after a drug-coated stent implant. The label on the Cypher stent, from Johnson & Johnson, approved for sale in the United States in 2003, calls for the anticlotting therapy for just three months. The label on the...

Opening a blocked artery with balloons and stents can be lifesaving in the early hours after a heart attack, but a new study concludes that it often does no good if the heart attack occurred three or more days before. The findings should change medical practice, researchers say, and could affect as many as 50,000 patients a year in the United States. They say doctors should stop trying to open arteries in people who had heart attacks days or weeks before and who are stable and free of chest pain. Currently, the balloon procedure, called angioplasty, is used in many...

Patients who underwent a minimally invasive procedure to reduce their risk of a stroke by clearing plaque from neck arteries had unexpected gains in memory and mental skills, according to a study that will be presented today at a medical conference in Toronto. If the results are confirmed by other trials, wider use of the procedure may allow many elderly people to continue to live independently, said Dr. Rodney Raabe, the radiologist who led the research team at the Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Wash. The procedure is known as carotid stenting and has been recently developed as an...

The Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. — A new generation of tiny, drug-coated metal scaffolds that prop open arteries has transformed heart care and is allowing a growing number of people to avoid bypass surgery. The devices, called drug-coated stents, release medication that prevents vessels from reclogging after procedures to open them up. At an American College of Cardiology conference on Sunday, doctors reported that both brands sold today are equally good at keeping blood flowing smoothly, although one might be better for diabetics. Both were vastly better than the plain metal ones that were standard just a few years ago....

A new and emerging understanding of how heart attacks occur indicates that increasingly popular aggressive treatments may be doing little or nothing to prevent them. The artery-opening methods, like bypass surgery and stents, the widely used wire cages that hold plaque against an artery wall, can alleviate crushing chest pain. Stents can also rescue someone in the midst of a heart attack by destroying an obstruction and holding the closed artery open. But the new model of heart disease shows that the vast majority of heart attacks do not originate with obstructions that narrow arteries. Instead, recent and continuing studies...