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June 30, 2008 Approaching Vulnerable Plaque in the Coronaries How should we approach vulnerable plaques in the coronaries and how can we calculate more precise risk levels in both high- and average-risk patients? ReachMD Radio host Dr. Lee Freedman addresses diagnosis and treatment options with Dr. Emile Mohler III, associate professor of medicine and director of vascular medicine within the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Download Podcast - courtesy www.reachmd.com
	June 29, 2008 Weighing the Costs of a CT Scan’s Look Inside the Heart: NY Times Article Cites Penn's Dr. Howard Herrmann Cardiologists who oppose wide use of CT scans agree that they can sometimes find dangerous blockages that require immediate surgery in asymptomatic patients. But they said such cases are extremely rare — not common enough to justify using the scans routinely, given their cost and radiation risks. For too many people, the scans are simply inappropriate, said Dr. Howard C. Herrmann, Penn's director of interventional cardiology. "I find many patients have CT angiograms who shouldn’t be getting CT angiograms." Also: "Dangers of CT Scans," CBS3 Health Alert Video »
	June 26, 2008 Blood-pressure Drug Shows Promise for Marfan Patients: Penn's chief of molecular genetics contributes to Baltimore Sun article A popular blood-pressure medication has shown promise as a therapy for Marfan syndrome, slowing and, in some cases, stopping the enlargement of a major blood vessel that can lead to fatal ruptures, Johns Hopkins researchers reported today. In an editorial accompanying today's article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Penn's chief of molecular genetics, Dr. Reed E. Pyeritz wrote that "the most appropriate course of action for patients with Marfan's syndrome and their physicians is to give serious consideration to enrolling in the trial." Learn More About the Clinical Trial »
	June 22, 2008 Lottery for Warfarin Pill Takers Could Be a Healthy Bet: New Penn Study Examines Patient Habits Using High-Tech Pillbox Just for taking a critical medicine every day, patients have a daily shot at winning $10 or $100 in cash in a new study at Penn, funded by the Aetna Foundation. "A lot of times people are busy or they forget," said Dr. Stephen E. Kimmel, director of Cardiovascular Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Participants have to remember to take their warfarin pill once a day from a "Med-eMonitor" pillbox. Learn More About this Clinical Trial »
	June 17, 2008 Penn Researchers Find Key Developmental Pathway Activates Lung Stem Cells: CVI Scientists Contribute to Investigation Researchers found activation of a molecular pathway important in stem cell and developmental biology leads to an increase in lung stem cells. Harnessing this knowledge could help develop therapies for lung-tissue repair after injury or disease. "The current findings show that increased activity of the Wnt pathway leads to expansion of a type of lung stem cell called bronchioalveolar stem cells," says senior author Edward Morrisey, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology. Learn more at Nature Genetics Online »
	June 16, 2008 ABC World News Special Report Features Penn's Dr. Daniel Rader: Four Steps to Lowering Your Risk for a Heart Attack In response to political journalist Tim Russert's sudden death from a heart attack, ABC World News offered viewers a special report on improving heart health. Leaders in the field of preventive cardiovascular medicine were featured including Penn's Director of Preventive Cardiology, Dr. Daniel Rader, who stated "There is good evidence that regular exercise grows new blood vessels and strengthens the heart, so if you do suffer a heart attack, you're more likely to survive it." Image: Paul Drinkwater / NBC NewsWire
June 16, 2008 CBS 3 Health Alert on Sudden Heart Attacks: Penn's Dr. Herrmann Comments on Effectiveness of Stress Tests "Stress tests aren't perfect," said Dr. Howard Herrmann, Director of Interventional Cardiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. When coronary artery disease becomes deadly, a piece of plaque breaks off from inside a blood vessel, and forms a clot that blocks blood flow. "We don't really know exactly what causes that. It can be precipitated sometimes by stress or a surge in adrenaline," said Dr. Herrmann. CBS3 Health Alert Video »
June 16, 2008 Addressing Vascular Plaque Ruptures A ruptured vascular plaque with subsequent thrombus often triggers the heart attack that occurs without warning. How do we identify and treat at-risk cardiac patients? Host Dr. Lee Freedman discusses an array of tools to evaluate plaque burden and promote plaque stabilization with Dr. Emile Mohler III, associate professor of medicine and director of vascular medicine within the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Download Podcast - courtesy www.reachmd.com
June 14, 2008 Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Low Blood Sodium Predicts High Mortality Rate in PAH Patients Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) whose serum sodium levels are low (called hyponatremia, or HN) have a very poor chance of survival according to Penn researchers. "This is the first study to show the powerful prognostic significance of low blood sodium in these patients," said the study's lead author, Dr. Paul R. Forfia, Pulmonary Hypertension Program Director at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Read the PubMed Abstract »
May 28, 2008 Testicular Cancer and Cardiovascular Risk: Survivors who received chemotherapy may have greater risk Survivors of testicular cancer treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy have evidence of endothelial injury and dysfunction compared with testicular cancer patients who did not receive chemotherapy, according to study results published in the May 1st issue of Cancer by Penn's Dr. David J. Vaughn and colleagues. Read the PubMed Abstract »
May 22, 2008 Penn Studies Show Drug-Eluting Stents Outperform Bare Metal Stents The findings, among the first large follow-up studies to show a clear, lifesaving benefit of drug-eluting stents compared to bare metal stents, will be published in the May 27 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Patients with the drug-coated stents were less apt to die, have heart attacks or require extra stents or bypass surgery. "There is a distinct possibility that drug-eluting stents not only reduce the need for future cardiac procedures, but also save lives," says Penn's Dr. Peter W. Groeneveld.
May 19, 2008 Advances in Heart Valve Surgery: Penn is Early Implant Site for New Medtronic Mitral Valve Device Medtronic, Inc. has launched the Profile 3D Annuloplasty Ring used by heart surgeons to repair – rather than replace – a failing mitral valve. "With designs that replicate natural mitral geometry we would expect to see natural valve dynamics and the potential for increased durability in the repaired heart valve," said Michael Acker, M.D., chief of the Cardiac Surgery Division at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. The device was developed in accordance with research published by Penn's Gorman Cardiovascular Research Group. Product Brochure »
May 14, 2008 Stem Cells for Heart Disease: June 10 Workshop features Penn CVI Scientifc Director Dr. Jonathan Epstein, CVI Scientific Director and Co-Director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, presents "Stem Cells for Heart Disease" at 2PM on June 10 at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Public Workshop. Both the afternoon Workshop and an evening Symposium are free and open to the public. Registration »
May 9, 2008 Treating Coronary Heart Disease: Adding Darapladib to statins may help prevent heart attack and stroke Despite widespread use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, a significant number of cardiac patients continue to suffer heart attacks and stroke. The drug darapladib may offer a way to fight that risk. "This is an exciting new area of medical treatment for cardiovascular disease," says the study's lead author, Dr. Emile R. Mohler, Director of Vascular Medicine at Penn. Read the PubMed Abstract »
May 1, 2008 Reducing Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: Penn Receives National Grant Award for Demonstrated Interventions Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is awarding more than $2.5 million to 10 organizations actively developing demonstrated interventions to eliminate racial and ethnic health care disparities in their communities. Each grant recipient will receive up to $275,000. Grantees will focus on cardiovascular disease, depression and diabetes.
April 25, 2008 A Chilling Tool Fights Cardiac Arrest: Phila. Inquirer cites Penn's Dr. Benjamin Abella and Dr. Lance Becker "Therapeutic hypothermia" is being used by a growing number of hospitals around the country, and University of Pennsylvania scientists are studying ways to do it more simply and quickly. It is the only intervention clearly shown to protect the brain from the devastating effects of cardiac arrest. At Penn's Center for Resuscitation Science, emergency-medicine physicians Lance Becker and Benjamin Abella theorize mitochondria are key to curbing reperfusion injury.
April 21, 2008 Children with ADHD should get heart tests before drug treatment: Penn's Dr. Victoria Vetter leads AHA statement committee "We want all children to have safe access to these medications," said Dr. Victoria L. Vetter, Chief of the Division of Cardiology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and lead author of the recommendations published today in Circulation, the heart association journal. For the drugs to be truly safe, Vetter said in an interview, children with heart problems must be identified. AHA Releases Clarification (May 16, 2008) »
April 21, 2008 Severe Heart Failure: Keys to Survival ReachMD Satellite Radio features Penn's Dr. Mariell Jessup Download Podcast - courtesy www.reachmd.com
April 16, 2008 Data Mining Prescribed to Ensure Drug Safety: Penn Teams with Health Insurer on New Drug-Safety Monitoring System
April 15, 2008 Advances in Gene Therapy: Innovative Materials Allow Better Control and Delivery via Stents
April 11, 2008 Workshop Explores Role of Research Volunteers: Penn's Director of Vascular Medicine Presents at AWARE for All
April 10, 2008 Penn Researchers Discover 'Modus Operandi' of Heart Muscle Protein: Implications for Cardiac Development and Health