Viterbi School biomedical engineer and cardiologist Tzung John Hsiai hopes to develop a new tool to help clinicians distinguish cardiac emergencies requiring immediate surgery from chronic problems manageable with drugs and lifestyle change.

There’s no reason to forgo a needed radiation-based medical procedure because of concerns about cancer risk, according to the October issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter. While the volume of radiation-based tests and procedures has increased in the past three decades, scientists haven’t proven that the low doses of radiation used in medical settings actually [...]

In a first-of-its-kind procedure, physicians at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center used a robotic catheter to save a patient’s transplanted lung.
Dr. Alan Lumsden, chair of the department of cardiovascular surgery at Methodist, and Dr. Miguel Valderrábano, chief of the division of cardiac electrophysiology, used a robotic catheter to place a stent in a [...]

BACKGROUND: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is the so-called “bad cholesterol” often linked to medical problems like heart disease and clogged arteries. Cells in the liver produce a specific receptor that sticks to LDL and removes it from the blood, lowering cholesterol levels. Statin drugs also reduce LDL cholesterol levels by boosting cells’ production of the receptor.

Rush University Medical Center is participating in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study to determine the best course of treatment to reduce the risk of stroke patients suffering another stroke. The study will determine if aggressive treatment of stroke victims for high blood pressure and cholesterol, along with placing a stent to widen a [...]