Tag Archives: cardiac

Remote heart monitoring for UK patients

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London: Suffers of heart illnesses now have access to a new service which offers remote monitoring of their condition – saving time and money on frequent medical visits.

The Reveal device, is a heart monitor that is implanted under the skin,which can now be linked to the Medtronic CareLink network which means that people suspected of having a heart condition can be assessed remotely by downloading data from the implanted monitor and can be directly accessed on the hospital’s computer system.

This means fewer trips to hospital for patients and huge potential bsavings for Britain’s National Health Service – saving both precious hospital time and resources.

There are approximately 2 million people in the UK with cardiac arrhythmias – a condition where the heart beats too fast, too slow or with an irregular beat. This can lead to sudden cardiac death which claims approximately 100,000 lives a year in the UK.

Identifying people with suspected arrhythmia earlier could save lives, though at present, currently only 8,500 people in the UK have such an implant fitted.

A pre-launch trial of the system found that 97% of patients preferred remote monitoring to hospital visits.

“This advance in technology will give patients suspected of having cardiac syncope more security and peace of mind about their heart devices,” says Trudie Lobban founder of STARS (Syncope Trust And Reflex Anoxic Seizures), adding that “For health professionals this will extend the reach of cardiovascular patient care beyond the clinic walls, and opens up new ways for doctors to treat patients.”

For more information on the Reveal device and the CareLink network, visit www.medtronic.co.uk and for more information on syncope and reflex anoxic seizures visit www.stars.org.uk

Red wine retards ageing, concludes new research

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Red wine which contains an antioxidant called resveratrol can remove fat from the diet, new research into its affect on ageing has revealed.

This confirms the speculation over why the French can eat a fatty diet but still remain healthy.

Earlier studies have already shown that resveratrol, also found in grapes, pomegranates and other foods.

In the journal PLoS ONE, the new research explains that even low doses of the substance in the diet of older mice may protect the heart. It is thought that resveratrol behaves in the same way as caloric restriction, a diet containing a full range of nutrients but with half the calories of a typical diet, which extends lifespan and cuts the risk of obesity, diabetes and cancer.

The study was carried out by the University of Wisconsin-Madison compared the gene use of animals on a restricted diet with those fed small doses of resveratrol. The authors concluded that a glass of red wine or supplements containing even small amounts of the substance could cease the rate of heart ageing.

Genome scientist supports DNA mapping for killer diseases

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Washington: The American scientist who became the first to decode the human “Genome” – the DNA code for every cell in the human body – is to become the first person to map all of his own DNA.

Craig Ventor, aged 60, has already started to tailor his diet and lifestyle after discovering through DNA testing that he is susceptible to a number of hereditary illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and possible blindness and even mad cow disease.His father, for example, died at the age of 59 from cardiac arrest.

In a report in The Sunday Times he says that when people know their own genetic code they are no longer an average statistic. He also said that whilst knowing this information was helpful in making lifestyle changes there are a number of other factors that influence health outcome.

Ventor who heads the non-profit Craig Ventor Institute, a science centre in Rockville, Maryland in the US, wants DNA mapping to become available for all. He predicts that this will happen within the next decade.