cardiovascular (heart) disease

September 17, 2020

New device may aid advanced heart failure patients

Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) has implanted its first V-Wave, an interatrial shunt device, as a part of a multi-center clinical trial.

By Matt Batcheldor
From left, Huan Tao, MD, PhD, Sean Davies, PhD, Jiansheng Huang, PhD, and MacRae Linton, MD, led the study that identified a potential new treatment for atherosclerosis.
August 20, 2020

‘Scavenger’ molecule may point to new atherosclerosis treatment

A small-molecule “scavenger” that reduces inflammation and formation of atherosclerotic plaque in blood vessels in mice potentially could lead to a new approach for treating atherosclerosis in humans, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Bill Snyder
Heart patient Ronnie Kreis is monitored by VHVI doctors while he’s at his home in East Tennessee.
July 30, 2020

Device allows VHVI doctors to monitor heart patients remotely

In 2018, Ronnie Kreis began to develop severe heart failure. After being hospitalized multiple times that year near his home in Oliver Springs in East Tennessee, he was told that nothing else could be done.

By Matt Batcheldor
July 29, 2020

Kirabo receives award from American Heart Association

Annet Kirabo, DVM, MSc, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine and Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, is receiving the 2020 Harry Goldblatt Award for Early Career Investigators from the American Heart Association (AHA).

By Matt Batcheldor
February 27, 2020

Study finds certain genetic test not useful in predicting heart disease risk

A Polygenic Risk Score — a genetic assessment that doctors have hoped could predict coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients — has been found not to be a useful predictive biomarker for disease risk.

By Matt Batcheldor
Networked dots in the shape of a brain
February 13, 2020

Algorithm helps improve coronary calcium detection

A new algorithm for artificial intelligence-assisted calcium scoring can accurately determine cardiovascular risk across a range of CT scans and in a racially diverse population.

By Bill Snyder
January 16, 2020

Global effort tracks causes, treatment of acute heart failure

Patients in North America wait a median of three hours to receive intravenous therapy for acute heart failure, while no other region in the world waited for more than 1.2 hours, according to a global study whose lead author and co-primary investigator is Sean Collins, MD, MSc, professor of Emergency Medicine.
By Matt Batcheldor
September 19, 2019

All-in-one pill helps reduce blood pressure, cholesterol

A single pill containing low doses of three medications to treat high blood pressure and one to lower cholesterol reduced the estimated risk of cardiovascular disease by 25%, according to a VUMC study.
By Craig Boerner
August 20, 2019

Quitting smoking associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease

A new Vanderbilt study documents the great incentive for current smokers to quit.
By Matt Batcheldor
June 10, 2019

Cell-cell signals in developing heart

Scott Baldwin and colleagues have discovered early signaling events during heart development, findings that could guide cell replacement therapies for heart disease.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 9, 2019

Blueprint for rebuilding the heart

Young-Jae Nam and colleagues are discovering how to express specific factors in connective tissue cells to turn them into heart muscle cells.
By Anivarya Kumar
May 2, 2019

More congenital heart patients becoming transplant candidates

Patients with a form of congenital heart disease — having only one ventricle (pumping chamber) — are now living longer lives due to the successful surgical and medical treatments they receive as children.
By Matt Batcheldor
April 15, 2019

Harvard’s Christine Seidman to receive 2019 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science

Christine Seidman, MD, whose lab has identified the genetic causes of several human heart diseases including cardiomyopathy (potentially fatal enlargement of the heart) is the recipient of the 2019 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science, officials at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) announced today.
By Bill Snyder