Injection saves lives for heart attack patients: study

(AFP)–1 day ago

CHICAGO — Paramedics armed with a cheap, three-ingredient injection cocktail were able to reduce heart attack patients' risk of dying by 50 percent, said a US study released on Tuesday.

When the shot was given early to patients with signs of a heart attack, the mixture of glucose, insulin and potassium, or GIK, showed remarkable success in preventing full cardiac arrest -- when the heart stops beating -- and even death.

And each shot cocktail costs only about $50, according to the research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 61st annual scientific meeting in Chicago.

"When started immediately in the home or on the way to the hospital -- even before the diagnosis is completely established -- GIK appears to reduce the size of heart attacks and to reduce by half the risk of having a cardiac arrest or dying," said co-principal investigator Harry Selker.

"Because the trial is the first to show GIK is effective when used by paramedics in real-world community settings, it could have important implications for the treatment of heart attacks," added Selker, executive director of the Institute for Clinical Research at Tufts Medical Center.

Previous trials using the formula were inconclusive, possibly because the shot was being given to patients too late, he said.

But this trial, which randomized 911 patients to receive either the shot or a placebo and was carried out by trained paramedics in 13 cities across the United States, showed positive effects in those who were given the treatment.

The treatment did not prevent heart attacks from occurring, but cut the likelihood of cardiac arrest by 50 percent over patients who did not get the shot. The risk of immediate death also dropped by 50 percent.

The effects were visible over the month following the event as well, with patients given the shot 40 percent less likely to die or be hospitalized for heart failure than those who did not.

In patients with a certain kind of heart attack in which a coronary artery becomes completely blocked, known as an ST-elevation heart attack, immediate GIK was associated with a 60 percent reduction in cardiac arrest or death.

Those who got GIK and were later confirmed to have had a heart attack saw an average of two percent of their heart tissue damaged, compared to 10 percent in the placebo group.

While 23 percent of the suspected heart attacks in the study turned out to be false alarms, patients who got the GIK shot showed no negative side effects from the treatment.

The key difference in this trial compared to previous ones appeared to be the act of giving the shot right away, rather than waiting for a confirmed diagnosis at the hospital.

"We wanted to do something that is effective and can be used anywhere," said Selker.

"More people die of heart attacks outside the hospital than inside the hospital. Hundreds of thousands of people per year are dying out in the community; we wanted to direct our attention to those patients."

For now, the treatment is not widely available. Further research is planned to track the study participants over the next year and evaluate its longer-term effects and benefits.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.More »

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gsM17T93sRr_ZlC4qsrsS8acegxQ?docId=CNG.e7ff68602d47c7492455e4816dbc482e.501

High salt intake 'could increase risk of stroke'

26 March 2012

March 26th sees the worldwide launch of Salt Awareness Week, with people being told of the health dangers that the ingredient can present.

The campaign was first launched in 2005 under the guidance of World Action On Salt and Health and aims to significantly cut the intake of salt by people across the globe.

Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) has also weighed in on the problems that the mineral can represent if consumed on a regular basis.

According to the organisation, a diet which is high in salt could lead to people experiencing higher blood pressure. This is heightened even more if individuals are indulging in a diet filled with fatty foods, while keeping fruit and vegetable intake to a minimum.

One of the main risks associated with high blood pressure is stroke – a condition which is currently the third most common cause of death across the UK.

CASH pointed out that there are around 150,000 strokes and mini strokes per year in the UK, with about a third of these proven fatal.

While the likelihood of suffering a stroke can be higher if a person is male, over the age of 55 or has a family history of the disease, many people could reduce their chances of contracting the condition by altering their diet.

For one, Brits looking to become healthier should try and keep their salt intake to no more than six grams per day – the equivalent of a teaspoon.

This piece of advice is underlined by the fact that the average daily salt intake for people in the UK is currently 8.6 grams.

In order to chop this level down to size, families are wise to check labels for salt content, especially on items such as soup, bread, cereal, meat products and sauces.

By doing this, Brits will be able to compare the products and determine which food would represent the healthier option.

However, this would be of little effect if people then chose to add salt when cooking a meal or allowing for the mineral to feature on a dinner table. Those used to eating food mixed with salt will likely taste the difference at first, but the taste buds should soon adapt.

It is not just members of the public who can make a difference though, with restaurant brand Tossed having a commitment never to add salt to any of its dishes.

Vincent Mckevitt, 30, the founder of Tossed, commented: "We add herbs, spices, chilli, lemon, seeds; we roast ingredients to intensify the flavours rather than using salt."

For those looking to dine at home instead of hitting the town, new research by CASH may give more food for thought when it comes to choosing healthier diets.

This is because the organisation found that the average pizza cooked at a takeaway contains up to two and a half times more salt than the standard supermarket equivalent.

Furthermore, half of the takeaway pizzas studied as part of the research contained more than an entire day's maximum recommended salt intake.

Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of CASH, believes that such results are "a national disgrace" as it means people are having their health put at risk with a process that they cannot monitor.

"The government is not taking enough action to reduce the amount of salt in the takeaway sector. The supermarkets have made the same pizzas with much less salt – showing how easy it would be for the whole sector [to cut down]," he pointed out.

People concerned about suffering a stroke can also ease their mind by pursuing a fitness regime which will allow them to lose weight, as well as choosing to quit smoking.

Many health institutes also allow individuals to have regular blood pressure checks, which can monitor if the body is at an increased risk of stroke.

Posted by Philip Briggs

http://www.spirehealthcare.com/Patient-Information/Health-News/General-Surgery/801326757-High-salt-intake-could-increase-risk-of-stroke-/

Less Salt Can Aid Diet

Submitted by Nimisha Sachdev on Wed, 03/28/2012 - 04:47

 

Making an immensely imperative disclosure that may well facilitate the process of weight loss for a large number of people all over the world who are down-and-out in a hope of shedding some of their extra kilos, it has recently been revealed by Hervey Bay dietician Peter St Henry that by bringing about a sense of lowering in the amount of salt intake, you can easily get your body right back on track towards a lean and fit physique.

Peter St Henry was of the opinion that a diet having excess of salt content can result in causing hypertension.

Sodium chloride, commonly known as salt, is available in almost all foods and it is almost always overlooked in bargain for dietary intake.

In general, an Australian adult has been advised to intake around 2300mg of salt per day and no more than that, which is equal to nearly one teaspoon.

While expressing his opinion in this regard, along with mentioning harmful consequences of consuming excess of salt, Health Divine’s St Henry that intake of too much salt can result in causing to a variety of diseases, and it also has the capability of causing osteoporosis.

He further added: “A diet high in salt causes your body to leech calcium from its stores. So reducing your salt intake will really help your body and your bones. "Sodium appears naturally in foods like seafood, meat, dairy, eggs and some vegetables”.

Consumption of excess of salt can also result in causing a variety of critical health complications, as claimed by the World Action on Salt and Health organization’s Australian division.

Excess salt, when consumed for a healthy period of time, can frequently result in causing a rise in the blood pressure as a person grows old.

http://frenchtribune.com/teneur/1210267-less-salt-can-aid-diet

Sweet Drinks Hurt Your Heart

Easy Health Options Staff | Mar 20, 2012 | Comments 1

By now, most people know that consuming large amounts of sugary drinks can increase their risk of obesity and related conditions, such as type 2 diabetes. Recently, research published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal, showed that men who drank one 12-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage a day had a 20 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who didn’t drink anything containing sugar.

“This study adds to the growing evidence that sugary beverages are detrimental to cardiovascular health,” said lead author Frank Hu, M.D., Ph.D. “Certainly, it provides strong justification for reducing sugary beverage consumption among patients, and more importantly, in the general population.”

Researchers found that sugary beverage consumption was still associated with a 20 percent increased risk of heart disease even after they controlled for other risk factors, such as smoking, physical inactivity, alcohol use and family history of heart disease.


http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/nutrition/sweet-drinks-hurt-your-heart/

Every Cell In Your Body Depends On The Thyroid

Dr. Michael Cutler | Mar 26, 2012 | Comments 22

When your thyroid malfunctions, every cell in your body suffers. And even though at least half of all Americans have thyroid issues, and these problems may be a primary cause of heart disease, most doctors can’t even recognize them.

The Importance Of The Thyroid

The thyroid gland, which surrounds your trachea in your lower neck, determines the metabolic rate of every cell. It influences nutrient delivery into each cell as well as the removal of waste products. If you’re thyroid deficient, no cell can function optimally. Subsequently, there is a long list of symptoms that can be caused by the hypothyroid state (low-functioning thyroid). If the thyroid begins functioning better, other endocrine glands improve their function and become better able to produce their respective hormones, including cortisol and the sex hormones. This is a serious issue: At least 50 percent of all American adults suffer from a thyroid deficiency.[1]

Want to know why the diagnosis of low-thyroid state is so commonly missed? Well, in part, there is such a huge diversity of related symptoms that only a very few physicians trained in this area can recognize the condition. I didn’t comprehend these thyroid problems for many years until a formerly retired cardiovascular surgeon recently brought me up to speed. He came out of retirement because he felt there was an important need to help patients improve by using hormone restoration and nutrition.

Blood Tests

Another reason orthodox medicine doesn’t do an adequate job of treating the thyroid is its over-reliance on thyroid blood tests. Doctors mistakenly believe these tests are required to make a diagnosis. The tests (T4, T3, and TSH levels) are notoriously unreliable for detecting hypothyroidism at the subtle level that contributes to illness. They do not always indicate what is going on in the relationship between thyroid hormone and the cells of body.

A hypothyroid diagnosis is best made from observing a low basal body temperature and symptoms of hypothyroidism. Ideally, these indications are supported by urine testing that demonstrates the urine thyroid hormone level remains low over a 24-hour period.

To do the basal body temperature test, simply use a thermometer to check your axillary (armpit) temperature while lying in bed for 10 minutes before you get up in the morning. Take at least three morning readings. For women, the best times are days 2, 3 and 4 of menstrual flow if you are menstruating. If your temperature is consistently below the range of 97.8 – 98.2 °F, then it is nearly certain you are thyroid deficient.

Low Thyroid Symptoms

To analyze your symptoms, take this symptom quiz. Do you experience:

1. Sensitivity to cold.
2. Hands and feet often cold.
3. High blood cholesterol.
4. Stiff or painful joints; rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.
5. Puffy face or swollen eyelids in the morning.
6. Tendency toward rapid weight gain.
7. Trouble getting up in the morning or anxiety or depression upon waking.
8. Feeling tired in daytime when sitting or at rest.
9. Headaches.
10. Frequent colds, sore throats, earaches or other infections.
11. Memory impairment or difficulty with concentration.
12. Nervousness, depression or bipolar symptoms.
13. Dry, brittle, thick or slow-growing hair or nails; excessive hair loss.
14. Dry skin; thick skin
15. Acne, eczema, psoriasis.
16. Constipation, abdominal bloating or colitis.
17. Menstrual disorders (excessive bleeding or painful menses).
18. Endometriosis, infertility, miscarriages.
19. Night time muscle cramps; burning or tingling.
20. Hypoglycemia.

Most often, only a few of these symptoms are found when thyroid deficiency is mild.

Pioneering Approach

The great pioneers of natural therapy medicine since the mid-1900s have been routinely reversing many chronic illnesses by treating the thyroid — an approach that has been almost entirely ignored by orthodox medicine. And many of these experts estimate that thyroid deficiency is the No. 1 underlying cause of heart disease.

Natural-health experts have found that thyroid supplementation is an easy way to control blood pressure and normalize high cholesterol.

I will elaborate on the important relationship of the thyroid to the heart in my article next week on thyroid hormone. I’ll also tell you more about foods to eat for optimal thyroid health, choosing the proper dose of thyroid hormone and which brands to use.

On to your best health,

Michael Cutler, M.D.
Easy Health Options

---

[1] Barnes, Broda O: Solved: The Riddle of Heart Attacks, Robinson Press, Fort Collins, CO, 1976

Kids Are Drowning In Sugar

Easy Health Options Staff | Mar 26, 2012 | Comments 0

Sugar and spice and everything nice, that’s what little girls used to be made of. Well, today, almost all kids seem to be made almost entirely out of sugar. Data digested from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey shows that sugar comprises about 16 percent of children’s diets. The analysis of the data demonstrates that older children consume more sugar than younger children, boys consume more sugar than girls, and Caucasian children consume more sugar than any ethnic group. Caucasian adolescent boys are the misfortunate sugar champs.

This health-threatening sugar mania crosses all economic and social lines. Both rich and poor kids are overdosing on sugary drinks, candies and processed foods. And while sugary soft drinks have few (any?) redeeming qualities, processed foods are providing about half of kids’ sugar supply. At the same time, while school meals may not be super nutritious, much of this sugar is being consumed in kids’ homes.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/kids-are-drowning-in-sugar/

Top Tips For A Successful Spring Cleanse

 Dr. Isaac Eliaz | Mar 23, 2012 | Comments 0

The renewed energetic awakenings of spring make this a great time to prepare our minds, bodies and environments for the brightening season ahead. It’s a perfect opportunity for a spring cleanse and the creation of a more vibrant, balanced sense of well-being.

Transition

Spring is a transitional season. Nature emerges from her inert, conservative wintry suspension into the high activity of summer. In a parallel fashion, the spring cleanse aims to lighten up our systems and make us more lively and efficient for increased physical challenges and activities.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), spring is intimately related to the wood element, as well as to the liver and gall bladder. Consequently, our spring cleanse mainly focuses on the liver. The liver is linked to turbulent emotions: unresolved anger and irritability.

Spring is characterized by the strong energy of growth and change, so it is important to allow this energy to flow smoothly and unimpeded. By spending more time in a natural setting and engaging in exercises, movement and relaxation techniques beneficial for the heart and mind (such as meditation), you can simultaneously relieve congested emotions and support a healthy liver (and, as a result, the entire body).

Maximizing The Cleanse

Your personal goals should determine the intensity of your detox regimen. But remember that it’s important to begin any type of cleanse under the supervision of an experienced healthcare provider who can guide you in the process — especially if you have health concerns or chronic ailments.

Below are some of my top holistic mind/body preparation tips to help you get the most out of your spring cleanse.

Planning Your Spring Cleanse

A spring cleanse can be as short as three days or as long as 21 days. I find that 10 to 14 days is optimal for most individuals. You can choose to start with a preparation phase, followed by a middle segment that is more intense, and wind your cleanse down by repeating the preparation phase.

Diet: However you plan your detox, the foundation of the program should always be a fresh, healthy diet that focuses on plenty of organic vegetables, either steamed or raw.

Supplementation: High-quality nutritional supplements such as PectaSol Chelation Complex (PCC) helps cleanse the circulation and digestive tract in preparation for deeper and more thorough phases of detoxification. PCC contains both modified citrus pectin and a unique modified alginate compound that function synergistically to bind and eliminate toxins without depleting the body of essential vitamins and minerals.

Hydration: Don’t forget to drink plenty of pure water (and herbal tea); hydration is extremely critical during a cleanse.

Time and Space: Taking time off from work during your cleanse is ideal. Give yourself the space to expand, relax and meditate on the things you wish to let go. That can help you release toxins in all areas of health: emotional, physical, mental and spiritual. If you can’t take time away from work, try to give yourself a few hours every day to create a sacred space to unpeel the layers of obstructions that may be hindering your health and vibrancy.

Environment: Cleansing and purifying your home, work and other environments is also an important preparation step. Cleaning out the stagnant winter energy, dusting and removing pathogens that may be lingering inside your home, and getting rid of clutter in your surroundings can have profound positive impacts on the health of your body, mind and spirit.

Designating a sacred space for meditation, relaxation and contemplation sends a message to your entire being that your commitment to vibrant health, clarity and other important areas is sincere and profound. See what positive changes will arise when you focus your energy into a sacred healing space for yourself.

Preparing Your Mind For Spring Detox

If you had the opportunity to experiment with meditation and inner reflection during the winter, you’ve likely discovered aspects of yourself that you no longer need to hold onto. So, as part of the cleansing process, it’s always useful to decide what it is you’re prepared to abandon as you move forward into the spring.

An expansive approach to detoxification uses the cleansing process as a means of increasing your degree of freedom and openness. Take an example from nature: Just as the day expands from dawn to dusk and the weather warms with the arrival of a new season, we can allow our perceptions to expand.
Meditation represents one of the most profound ways to do this. By engaging in regular meditation, we can embrace those things in life that previously troubled us. Letting go of the afflictive emotions that have so much control over our perception of reality is an important part of the cleansing process.

That’s why a cleanse should always begin with the ultimate goal of creating greater freedom and opening up of the self. This can be done with simple meditation practices that focus on your breathing, such as Shamata Meditation. I will be sharing these and other meditation practices at my upcoming Meditation and Healing Retreat, April 26-29 in Petaluma, Calif. For more information on this event, visit http://betterhealthpublishing.com/.

Unfolding 

During the unfolding process of cleansing and meditation, our overloads and afflictions are released and allowed to dissipate like dew in the morning sun. As we detoxify and let go of these limiting perceptions and emotions, we find that the same stimuli no longer bring the same responses, and that life naturally grows easier.

A successful cleanse can do all this and more. In addition to more vibrant physical health, we can also develop a deeper sense of compassion and understanding while releasing and transforming negative patterns — allowing us to move forward into the next season with a healthier body and mind.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/top-tips-for-a-successful-spring-cleanse/

Eating Fatty Fish Keeps Your Brain Younger

Easy Health Options Staff | Mar 23, 2012 | Comments 0

Never eating fatty fish like salmon or sardines apparently causes your brain to age faster. When UCLA researchers examined people who rarely consumed the omega-3 fats found in these fish, they found that their brains shrank faster over time and aged faster than the brains of folks who were fish fans.

In this study of 1,575 people, researchers determined that the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) from fish were determining factors in brain size and capability. Fish-avoiders whose DHA levels were in the bottom 25 percent also bottomed out on memory tests.

The researchers estimated that if you’re not a fish eater, your brain is two years older than it would be if you were a piscatorian.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/eating-fatty-fish-keeps-your-brain-younger/

Protect Your Brain With Turmeric

Easy Health Options Staff | Mar 22, 2012 | Comments 4

A spice with a yellow tint may untangle one of the causes of Parkinson’s disease. Turmeric, an Asian plant used in many Indian and Thai dishes, contains a compound, curcumin, which may be effective in preventing the first stages of Parkinson’s and other debilitating diseases. Although how Parkinson’s develops is not fully understood, the first step in the disease is the clumping, or aggregation, of proteins caused by a substance called alpha-synuclein.
Curcumin seems to slow this destructive process.

Unfortunately, curcumin doesn’t easily cross the blood-brain barrier, so it is unclear how protective the substance can be. “Curcumin’s usefulness as an actual drug may be pretty limited since it doesn’t go into the brain easily where (protein) misfolding is taking place,” says Lisa Lapidus, a researcher at Michigan State University.

http://www.easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/protect-your-brain-with-turmeric/

Listening to Sinatra can help you,,,

I've got you under my skin: How listening to Sinatra sing can help you heal faster

By Jenny Hope
PUBLISHED: 00:28 GMT, 28 March 2012 | UPDATED: 00:28 GMT, 28 March 2012 

Calming: Frank Sinatra's music, and other
easy listening classics, were found to help
patients during ops

The sounds of Sinatra are helping patients undergoing surgery to relax and even heal faster, say researchers.

Hits like 'I've got you under my skin' can reduce the fear factor for patients who stay awake during surgery but need a local anaesthetic.

Easy listening and classical music were the top choices for surgeons and patients taking part in a new study at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

Doctors at the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford analysed data from 96 patients split into two groups for the musical experiment.

The first group was played music during their surgery while the second were operated on in the usual operating theatre environment.

Both groups included patients undergoing plastic surgery for simple skin lesions as well as those having planned NHS reconstructive surgery to hands or limbs.

Anxiety levels were measured through the patients' respiratory rate and asking them to rate their anxiety using an established scale.

Measurements were taken when the patient was on the operating table just before the surgical procedure started and again at the end of the operation, while the patient was still on the operating table.

The research, published in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons, found the group played music scored around 29 per cent less on anxiety levels and had an average of 11 breaths per minute versus 13 breaths per minute in the other group.

The research is the first to examine the effect of music on patients undergoing both planned and emergency surgical operations whilst awake.

Apul Parikh, one of the surgeons involved, said background music appeared to take patients' minds off the procedure.

He said 'They welcomed the distraction, even a minor operation can cause a great deal of stress.

'We didn't want anything that would make a crazy noise, it was mostly classical, Beethoven and Vivaldi for example, and Sinatra for a mellow mood.'

Study leader Hazim Sadideen, a plastic surgical registrar, said 'Undergoing surgery can be a stressful experience for patients and finding ways of making them more comfortable should be our goal as clinicians.

'There are also good medical reasons - calmer patients may cope better with pain and recover quicker.

'This small-scale work is the first time an attempt has been made to measure the impact music has in this specific group of patients and hints at the need for bigger multi-centre research to establish whether this should become part of standard practice.'

Previous studies have found classical music may have the greatest health benefits for patients, especially the works of Bach, Mozart and Italian composers.

Most studies have investigated the effects of music when played in the waiting room or endoscopy suite, with little work done on patients in the operating theatre when they are probably most anxious.

The study noted that anxiety before an operation can have a physical effect, including promoting an inflammatory response which can prolong healing time.

The report said 'Thus, from a physiological perspective, high preoperative anxiety levels in patients can result in both delayed wound healing and increased post-operative pain, potentially prolonging recovery time and the length of hospital stay.'

A recent study in the medical journal Brain found a couple of hours a day spent listening to music in the early weeks after a stroke doubled compared with patients who were not exposed to music.

Playing music has also been shown to help dementia victims remember their past lives more easily.

Previously, Leicester doctors found Glen Miller and the Big Band sound put people with breathing problems 'in the mood' and back on their feet.

Those who hummed along with Glen Miller walked 25 per cent further and suffered less breathlessness.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2121375/Ive-got-skin-How-listening-Sinatra-sing-help-heal-faster.html

New 'super' aspirin shrinks tumours for 11 different cancers

• The hybrid pill causes cancer cells to self-destruct
• 'Super' aspirin found to be 100,000 times more potent than normal variety

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 16:24 GMT, 9 March 2012 | UPDATED: 00:37 GMT, 10 March 2012

A new hybrid of 'superdrug' aspirin could shrink tumours and may tackle 11 different forms of cancer, according to new research.

The 'designer' aspirin is believed to be much safer than the version currently on chemist shelves, which can cause bleeding, ulcers and kidney failure in high doses.

 

Hybrid pill far more potent than normal aspirin so would require
lower doses to be effective, minimising or potentially eliminating its side effects

Scientists discovered the aspirin compound can curb the growth of 11 different types of human cancer cells - including colon, pancreatic, prostate, breast and leukemia - without harming normal cells. However, so far it has only been tested on animals.

Mice carrying human colon cancer tumours were given the new aspirin, known as NOSH aspirin, It caused the cancer cells to shrink by 85 per cent and self-destruct - without any signs of toxicity in the mice.

Lead author Professor Khosrow Kashfi from The City College of New York, said: 'If what we have seen in animals can be translated to humans, it could be used in conjunction with other drugs to shrink tumors before chemotherapy or surgery.'
Previous research has shown that ordinary aspirin can reduce the size of some tumours by up to 50 per cent. But prolonged use of the old form of the drug could have serious side effects such as causing excessive bleeding, ulcers or damage to the kidneys.

Prof Kashfi said: 'There’s a lot of data on aspirin showing that when taken on a regular basis, on average it reduces the risk of development of colon cancer by about 50% compared to nonusers.'

But he added: 'The key components of this new compound are that it is very, very potent and yet it has minimal toxicity to the cells.'

Only 24 hours after treating a culture of cancer cells, the NOSH-aspirin demonstrated 100,000 times greater potency than aspirin alone.

Prof Kashfi said: 'At 72 hours it is about 250,000 times more potent in an in-vitro cell culture against human colon cancer. So you need a lower amount to get the same result.'

The new compound is based on a hybrid of two previous formulations. One part of the hybrid aspirin releases nitric oxide (NO), which helps protect the stomach lining. The other releases hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which the researchers have previously shown enhances aspirin’s cancer-fighting ability.

The researchers found the hybrid was far more effective than either of the two components alone to boost aspirin’s safety and power against cancer.

This means a drug based on this hybrid would require lower doses to be effective, minimising or potentially eliminating its side effects.

In the second study, when mice bearing human colon cancer tumors on their flanks were given oral NOSH-aspirin, the compound caused cancer cells to self-destruct, inhibited the proliferation of the cells and significantly reduced tumor growth without any signs of toxicity in the mice.

In the paper for the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Prof Kashfi noted the drug is still some years from going on the shelves but toxicity testing and clinical trials would be the next step for developing the drug for human use.

The study funded by The National Cancer Institute was also conducted by Dr Ravinder Kodela and Dr Mitali Chattopadhyay.

Dr Kashfi and his colleagues will present these findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Chicago at the end of the month.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2112723/New-super-aspirin-shrinks-tumours-11-different-cancers.html

New blood-thinning drug could stop 5,000 strokes a year

By Jenny Hope

PUBLISHED: 00:00 GMT, 15 March 2012 | UPDATED: 10:25 GMT, 15 March 2012


A blood-thinning drug has been given the go-ahead for use on the NHS in a move that is expected to revolutionise stroke prevention.

The drug – the first anti-clotting agent to be developed in almost 60 years – could eventually replace warfarin, the most commonly used therapy, which is based on rat poison.

Almost a million patients suffering an irregular heartbeat could be eligible to take the new drug, called Pradaxa, which could prevent an additional 5,000 strokes a year.

Warfarin is used by more than 500,000 patients in the UK. But users need close monitoring and regular blood tests to prevent potential excessive bleeding from cuts or stomach ulcers.

Warfarin can also interact badly with other drugs and some foods including green vegetables and grapefruit, while alcohol can affect its action.

Pradaxa, also known as dabigatran, works as well as warfarin, while a higher daily dose, of 300mg a day, is almost one-third more effective at reducing the risk of stroke.


Patients taking the capsules do not have to be constantly checked, can eat what they like and it is much easier to use with other medicines.

Pradaxa costs £2.50 a day – vastly more than about £1 for a month’s supply of warfarin – and patients have to take it for life.


But NHS rationing body the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has deemed it to be cost-effective and approved its use in England and Wales, despite warnings from some NHS managers that it could bust their budgets.

It is estimated that high-dose Pradaxa in up to 900,000 eligible patients – many of whom are at risk but currently untreated – could prevent an extra 5,000 strokes a year, saving the NHS up to £59million in the first year.


NHS Salford attempted to block approval, arguing it would have the ‘biggest impact to date’ of any Nice decision, as it would be taken up by hundreds of thousands of patients.

The drug is one of a new generation of anti-clotting agents aimed at preventing strokes and other potentially fatal problems in people suffering atrial fibrillation (AF).

Research published by the Royal Brompton Hospital suggests
the new pill could benefit those unable to use current medication

In AF the upper chambers of the heart are out of rhythm and beat much faster than normal, which allows blood to pool and generate tiny blood clots which can trigger a stroke.

The condition affects about 1.2million Britons and causes one in seven first-time strokes – or 12,500 a year, according to the Stroke Association.

Doctors claim Pradaxa could trigger an overdue shake-up in stroke prevention.

Professor Martin Cowie, professor of cardiology at Royal Brompton Hospital, London, has published research suggesting one in three people with AF get no treatment at all, while others get ‘inadequate’ treatment with aspirin.

He added: ‘Some patients have been stable on warfarin for years, they won’t necessarily need to change, but others are untreated, under-treated or can’t tolerate warfarin.’

The drug, by Boehringer Ingelheim, is licensed for AF patients after a previous stroke or transient ischaemic attack – a ‘mini-stroke’ – and in those aged 65 or older with diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease.

Trudie Lobban, of the Atrial Fibrillation Association, said: ‘Consequences of blood clots can be overwhelming and their prevention and treatment should rightly be considered a health priority.

‘There are a million AF sufferers in England, but less than 50 per cent are currently receiving therapy. With the new anti-coagulant, which is easier to manage, far more will now have access to appropriate treatment.’


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2115136/New-blood-thinning-drug-stop-5-000-strokes-year.html

A nation addicted to statins...

A nation addicted to statins: We would rather pop a pill than live a healthy life, warns Oxford University professor

By Julian Gavaghan
PUBLISHED: 18:26 GMT, 14 March 2012 | UPDATED: 14:13 GMT, 15 March 2012


Britain is in danger of becoming a nation of pill-poppers, a leading academic has warned.

Professor Sarah Harper, director of Oxford University’s institute of population ageing, said the country’s love affair with medicine means we choose to pop pills rather than follow a healthy lifestyle.

She cited the widespread use of cholesterol-busting statins, taken by up to seven millions adults that could increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Warning: Prof Sarah Parker said we are at risk of living in a world where people
increasingly depend on drugs like cholesterol-lowering statins

She added that academics who advocate those over 45 should take low-dose aspirin to help ward off cancer may also create a medicine dependency culture.

And, in a public lecture on the world's ageing population, Prof Harper, warned: ‘I think we may be entering a world where preventable chronic disease will not be prevented by public health measures tackling lifestyles, but increasingly by drug therapies which will control and reduce symptoms of chronic disease.

‘We have to ask if we wish our future to be one where individuals at increasingly younger ages pop pills rather than eat healthily, stop smoking, reduce alcohol, and take up exercise. Do we want 10-year-olds popping statins?’

Prof Harper gave the Oxford London Lecture 2012, titled The 21st Century – the last century of youth? at the Church House Conference Centre in Westminster.

She said that the chance of children taking statins was remote. But she noted academics were tending to recommend that people took preventative drugs at an earlier and earlier age.

She told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Drug therapies are fantastic, but we have to be careful that we don't just have drugs where there are healthy living alternatives.’
 
Taking drugs to combat chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes came at a cost, she said - both to the individual and the taxpayer.

Statins: The cholesterol-lowering driug are fast

developing a reputation as a wonder drug

‘By all means over-eat and don't take any exercise, but in today's world you may find that means 20 years of chronic disability at the end of your life,’ she explained.

Evidence showed that those who lived healthier lifestyles had many more healthy years than those who did not, she said, something that popping pills alone could not achieve.

Statins in particular are fast gaining a reputation as a wonder drug.

In January, research suggested that a regular dose of cholesterol-lowering drugs could help cut the risk of breast cancer.

New research found a link between a cholesterol-building mechanism in the body and disorganised cell growth characteristic of breast cancer.

Both involved defective versions of a gene called p53, which when treated with cholesterol-lowering statins stopped the invasive growth attributed to the cancer - and in some cases the genes even died.

Study leader Dr Carol Prives, from Columbia University in New York, said: 'The data raises the possibility that we might identify subsets of patients whose tumours may respond to statins.'

'Of course we can't make any definitive conclusions until we know more.


'There are great implications, but nothing clinical yet. Perhaps one could do a clinical trial, and that may support these findings, or it may be more complicated.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2115018/A-nation-addicted-statins-We-pop-pill-live-healthy-life-warns-Oxford-University-professor.html

How popping pills is a way to pharmaceutical paradise (or not)

By Dr Robert Lefever

PUBLISHED: 14:19 GMT, 15 March 2012 | UPDATED: 16:08 GMT, 15 March 2012


Professor Sarah Harper, director of Oxford University's institute of population ageing, says that the country's love affair with medicine means that we choose to pop pills rather than follow a healthy lifestyle.

I remember being taught to discourage the concept that we should take or prescribe a pill for every ill. Professor Harper takes this one step further by saying that we should beware of relying upon pills to keep us and our patients well.

Bravely, she challenges the belief that statins are the holy grail. My prediction is that she will get absolutely nowhere. Patients want pills and doctors want to prescribe them. The pharmaceutical industry fulfils a perceived need, as well as trying to create one.

Statins: The cholesterol-lowering driug are fast developing a reputation as a wonder drug

We have an ambivalent relationship with Big Pharma. We like the miraculous clinical advances and we gladly take advantage of them. But we are concerned that doctors prescribe too much. We buy non-prescription medicines at every opportunity but we say that it is wrong for people to be so dependent upon them. We fear for our future health but we do little to promote it. As Professor Harper says, we prefer to pop pills.

There is a simple reason for this: neither doctors nor patients want, or sometimes even know of other alternatives.

Doctors are trained to prescribe. So we should be. But we are rarely trained to do anything else. I had not one lesson on human psychology in my six years of undergraduate training. For almost all my training in non-medicinal therapies, I went to the USA.

Yet, in my clinical practice, I was very much an orthodox doctor. There was nothing 'alternative' about me. I prescribed simple antibiotics and painkillers when they were really necessary.

I very rarely prescribed sleeping tablets, tranquillizers or antidepressants. Analysis of my prescribing costs showed that they were only 40% of those of other GPs in my area of London.

I do not believe that I looked after a group of patients who were particularly well. I had 3,500 NHS patients so I saw the same conditions that other doctors saw. I simply did not use medicines as my first clinical approach.

I think that my patients were healthier as a result. Such dependencies as they may have had, did not come from me.

Equally, I was unimpressed that statins were the answer to every medical problem. I am familiar with their benefits but I am also familiar, alongside Professor Harper, with the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

I myself do not take statins or aspirin or vitamins or anything other than the drugs that are specifically indicated for whatever I may have at any particular time.

Warning: Prof Sarah Parker said we are at risk of living in a world where people
increasingly depend on drugs like cholesterol-lowering statins

I do all sorts of things that keep me happy, active and creative. In particular, I am very familiar with the health benefits of a close personal relationship. That cannot be prescribed. Nor does it just happen. It has to be worked for.

And this is where our entire 'something for nothing' culture falls down. Figures for national expenditure on prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and benefits of one kind or another, show that we have created a dependent population. But are we healthier and happier?

That is the challenge that Professor Harper puts to us. If we are reluctant to take responsibility for ourselves, if we are physically and mentally able to do so, we run the risk of being hooked on the largesse of the government, the common sense and concern of doctors, and the benign efficacy of pharmaceutical products. I don't want that for myself or for people who ask for my help. I don't trust it.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2115402/Pharmaceutical-Paradise-not.html

Should we all take an aspirin?

By Dr Ellie Cannon

PUBLISHED: 00:05 GMT, 25 March 2012 | UPDATED: 04:37 GMT, 25 March 2012


There are numerous health benefits but it's not without risk

The benefits of aspirin are making headlines again, this time with research showing it prevents cancer. So we should all be stocking up, surely? Not so. There are numerous health benefits from taking this drug but it is not without risks. Here’s what you need to know.

Should we all be taking it?

No. However, over the age of 50 we know the risk of cancer increases, so it is possible that if you started taking it from that age onwards you might reduce the risk of certain cancers. If you have a strong family history of heart disease or cancers and are not on any medications that irritate the stomach (aspirin can further damage the stomach lining), it is worth considering. But always ask your GP first.

Will it really stop us from getting cancer?

Although the studies show it reduces the risk of cancers, it doesn’t mean that you won’t get the disease. So if you have a family history of colorectal or prostate cancer, you still need to be aware of the warning signs.

Who should take it?

Anyone for whom it has been prescribed – those at risk of stroke or heart attack, or any cardiovascular reason.

And who shouldn’t take it?

If you are taking any medication that irritates the stomach, you must seek medical advice. This includes steroids, antidepressants or regular ibuprofen for conditions such as arthritis. Ibuprofen once a week for a headache shouldn’t cause any problems but it might if taken more frequently. Haemophiliacs and those with stomach ulcers cannot take it.

What dose should we take?

One 75mg tablet a day on a full stomach. Take with a glass of milk – not, as many think, to reduce irritation to the stomach, but because the calcium helps with absorption.

What are the side effects?

Some degree of stomach irritation is inevitable. Aspirin stimulates prostaglandins in the stomach but this won’t always cause a problem. Some will develop ulcers, especially those who drink or smoke heavily.

Twitter.com/Dr_Ellie


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2119805/DR-ELLIE-CANNON-Should-aspirin.html

Liver transplants could be a thing of the past...

Liver transplants could be a thing of the past as scientists grow working cells that correct genetic mutation

By Daily Mail Reporter
UPDATED: 00:59 GMT, 15 October 2011

British scientists have developed a new stem cell technique for growing working liver cells which could eventually avoid the need for costly and risky liver transplants.

A team of researchers led by the Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge used cutting-edge methods to correct a genetic mutation in stem cells derived from a patient's skin biopsy, and then grew them into fresh liver cells.

By putting the new liver cells into mice, they showed they were fully functioning.

Stem cell: Scientists say the discovery could transform medicine, providing treatments
for blindness, spinal cord and other severe injuries, and new cells for damaged organs 

Allan Bradley, director of the Sanger Institute said: 'We have developed new systems to target genes and ... correct ... defects in patient cells,'


Bradley said the technique -- the first success of its kind -- leaves behind no trace of the genetic manipulation, except for the gene correction.

'These are early steps, but if this technology can be taken into treatment, it will offer great possible benefits for patients,' he added.     


Stem cells are the body's master cells, the source for all other cells.


Scientists say they could transform medicine, providing treatments for blindness, spinal cord and other severe injuries, and new cells for damaged organs.

Research is focused on two main forms -- embryonic stem cells, which are harvested from embryos, and reprogrammed cells, also known as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which are reprogrammed from ordinary skin or blood cells.           

When they were first discovered in 2006, iPS cells looked like a perfect solution to the ethical debate over the use of embryonic stem cells because they are made in a lab from ordinary skin or blood cells.

Embryonic stem cells are usually harvested from leftover embryos at fertility clinics and their use is opposed by many religious groups.

But in recent years, concerns have been raised that iPS cells may not be as 'clean' or as capable as embryonic cells.

Last year, a group led by Robert Lanza, of the U.S. firm Advanced Cell Technology , compared batches of iPS cells with embryonic stem cells and noticed the iPS cells died more quickly and were much less able to grow and expand.

A study published in the journal Nature, the British team took skin cells from a patient with a mutation in a gene called alpha1-antitrypsin, which is responsible for making a protein that protects against inflammation.

People with mutant alpha1-antitrypsin are not able to release the protein properly from the liver, so it becomes trapped there and eventually leads to liver cirrhosis and lung emphysema.

Breakthrough: British scientists have developed a new stem cell technique for growing
working liver cells which could eventually avoid the need for costly and risky liver transplants

This is one of the most common inherited liver and lung disorders and affects about one in 2,000 people of North European origin, the researchers said.

Having harvested the skin cells, the scientists reprogrammed them back into stem cells before inserting a correct version of the gene using a DNA transporter called piggyBac.

The leftover piggyBac sequences were then removed from the cells, cleaning them up and allowing them to be converted into liver cells without any trace of residual DNA damage at the site of the genetic correction.

David Lomas, a Cambridge professor of respiratory biology said: 'We then turned those cells into human liver cells and put them in a mouse and showed that they were viable.'

Ludovic Vallier, also from Cambridge University, said the results were a first step toward personalised cell therapy for genetic liver disorders.

He said: 'We still have major challenges to overcome...but we now have the tools necessary,'

The researchers said it could be another five to 10 years before full clinical trials of the technique could be run using patients with liver disease.


But if they succeed, liver transplants -- costly and complicated procedures where patients need a lifetime of drugs to ensure the new organ is not rejected -- could become a thing of the past.

Professor Lomas said: 'If we can use a patient's own skins cells to produce liver cells that we can put back into the patient, we may prevent the future need for transplantation,'   

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2049423/Liver-transplants-thing-past-scientists-grow-working-cells-correct-genetic-mutation.html

New hope for liver transplant patients

by MARTYN HALLE, Daily Mail

Last updated at 12:12 18 October 2005


Scientists have developed a treatment that could save the lives of hundreds of people needing liver transplants - they have discovered how patients can 'regrow' their own livers.

New treatment regenerates liver

During the new procedure, doctors remove healthy cells from a patient's own liver, grow them for up to a week in a laboratory - and then infuse them back into the liver. There, they continue to multiply.

At present, there is no way of keeping alive critically ill liver patients for long enough to receive a transplant if one is not available immediately.

There is also an enormous demand for livers, and doctors say that is likely to increase dramatically because of rising rates of obesity, heart disease and hepatitis C.

Doctors have struggled for years to grow enough liver cells in the laboratory to save seriously ill patients.

But researchers have employed a relatively new surgical technique that allows the new liver cells to grow rapidly when put back into the liver.

The method, embolisation, has already been used to help patients with liver cancer grow more liver cells after surgery to remove their tumours.

Surgeons cut off some of the blood supply of the liver where the cells are infused, and this forces that part of the liver to work rapidly to make new cells.


Trial with liver failure babies due

So far, only animal trials have taken place, involving the removal of cells. But human trials are expected to start in the next few weeks on new-born babies with major liver failure who might otherwise die.

Results of the research were reported yesterday at the conference of the United European Gastroenterology Conference in Copenhagen by doctors from the Hospital St Antoine in Paris.

Dr Andrew Burroughs, a liver specialist at London's Royal Free Hospital, said: "This is a really exciting development which opens up the possibility that soon the majority of patients will not need a donor liver transplant.

"We are desperately short of donor livers and often lose patients because an organ cannot be found in time.

"There are also patients we would like to put on the transplant list but cannot because of the shortage of organs. So patients are prioritised for transplant."

The number of donor organs becoming available in the UK is less than half the rate of many other European countries. Italy and Spain have among the highest donor liver rates.

A growing number of patients developing liver failure suffer from obesity and heart disease. The damage is caused by a build-up of cholesterol.

Dr Burroughs says: "The popular misconception is that the majority of patients with liver failure are alcoholics. Patients with diseased and damaged livers due to alcohol abuse form a large number of those needing transplant, but they are in a minority.

"The benefit of using a patient's own liver cells to regrow their liver is that they not only avoid transplant, but also would not need to spend the rest of their lives on anti-rejection drugs.

"We also know that even those who have successful liver transplants may - after 15 or 20 years - need a new liver. Growing and infusing liver cells would get round those difficulties."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-365757/New-hope-liver-transplant-patients.html

Aspirin cuts cancer death risk...

An aspirin every day 'cuts cancer death risk by 37%' and can stop disease from spreading

By Sophie Borland
PUBLISHED: 22:43 GMT, 20 March 2012 | UPDATED: 03:53 GMT, 21 March 2012

Taking a daily dose of aspirin lowers the chance of dying from cancer by more than a third, major research shows today.

It reveals that the pills not only reduce the likelihood of contracting the illness, they also protect against it spreading.Oxford scientists say the evidence is so strong that in future the NHS watchdog NICE may issue guidelines telling doctors to prescribe aspirin to cancer sufferers.

In one of a series of studies involving 200,000 patients, the academics found aspirin cut the risk of dying of cancer by 37 per cent if patients took it every day for five years.

Powerful and cheap: Aspirin could protect and reduce the risk of cancer

Another study found that taking aspirin for three years reduced the chance of men developing cancer by 23 per cent, and women by 25 per cent.

Researchers also found that once patients had been diagnosed with cancer, their chance of it spreading was cut by 55 per cent if they took daily doses of aspirin for at least six and a half years.

For some time scientists have known that aspirin protects against certain types of cancer, particularly those affecting the bowel and throat.

But this is the first time they have revealed it could also treat the illness by preventing tumours spreading to other organs – or ‘metastasising’ – which is often fatal.

Professor Peter Rothwell, whose studies are published today in the Lancet, said extra research needed to be carried out ‘urgently’.

Professor Rothwell who is based at the University of Oxford and John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, said: ‘If NICE were to prioritise it, it would certainly be influential.

‘It’s certainly time to add prevention of cancer into the analysis of the balance of risk and benefits of aspirin.

‘So far, all the guidelines have just been based on the prevention of strokes and heart attacks.

‘This research really shows that the cancer benefit is as large, if not larger, than the benefit in terms of preventing heart attacks and strokes.

‘It does change the equation quite drastically.’

Taking aspirin every day can significantly reduce the chances of developing various forms of cancer

Aspirin is known to reduce the effectiveness of key cells, called platelets, which cause the blood to clot.

For this reason it is prescribed to patients who have had heart attacks and strokes to reduce the chance of blood clots and try to prevent it happening again.

Scientists think that platelets are also involved in the formation of cancerous tumours. And they believe that they spread the illness to other areas of the body. So by making these cells less effective, aspirin helps prevent and treat cancer.

But despite this compelling evidence, Professor Rothwell urged patients not to start taking aspirin every day purely to try to prevent cancer.

Aspirin can have harmful side effects including stomach ulcers and internal bleeding in the intestines.

Other risks in adults include kidney disease and tinnitus – or ringing in the ears.

But he said that the thousands of patients currently taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks and stroke would almost certainly be also reducing their risk of dying from cancer.

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician, said: ‘This is an exciting development.

‘It adds to the other established ways of reducing cancer risk – not smoking, keeping a healthy bodyweight and cutting down on alcohol.

‘It’s a good idea for people thinking of taking aspirin to discuss it with their GP, as it can sometimes have side effects such as internal bleeding especially in people over 70.

‘The research also suggests that aspirin may help to prevent cancer from spreading in the body, so it could be beneficial for people already diagnosed with cancer.

‘However, because of the risk of bleeding, patients should discuss this with their specialist before starting to take aspirin, and be aware of the potential for increased complications before surgery or other treatments such as chemotherapy.’


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2117906/Aspirin-Daily-dose-cuts-cancer-death-risk-37.html

The robotic arm that can save you from a fatal aneurysm

By David Hurst
UPDATED: 02:55 GMT, 7 February 2012


Around 7,000 Britons die every year from an aneurysm — when a major artery in the body ruptures.

Retired lorry driver Barry Merchant, 67, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was the first person to undergo a new type of preventive surgery.

THE PATIENT

'The aneurysm kept growing, and I knew it
could burst at any moment,' said Barry Merchant

Two years ago, I was having a routine heart check for my angina when doctors spotted an aneurysm.


They explained an aneurysm is a swelling in a blood vessel, and I had the most common type: an abdominal aortic aneurysm, in the body’s main artery, the aorta.


The wall of the aorta had weakened and ballooned, meaning it could burst, causing severe internal bleeding which could kill me.


The doctors said usually they would operate and put in a little metal tube called a stent where the aneurysm is, to stop the pressure on the swollen walls and allow the blood to flow safely.


But my aneurysm was close to branches of the aorta which supply blood to the kidneys, liver, spleen and stomach.

To operate here would be just too risky, so all they could do for now was keep an eye on me.

I saw the doctors every six months to get it checked.

Unfortunately, the aneurysm kept growing, and I knew it could burst at any moment. It was like living with a time bomb inside me.

Within a few months of being diagnosed, just walking made me really breathless because my blood was not flowing round my body properly.

I got lots of hot sweats. I’m divorced, so was on my own a lot, which made it harder.

I also slipped on some ice and banged my hips, but the doctors couldn’t operate on that while I had the aneurysm, as it was too risky — so for the past two years I’ve been in a wheelchair.


By the end of last year, the swelling was 7.5 cm long.

My surgeon, Professor Nick Cheshire, who I’d been seeing at St Mary’s Hospital in London, said they had to do something. He told me about a new procedure where they’d use a robot arm to put in the stent, going in through an artery in my groin.

It was more accurate than a surgeon, so it wouldn’t damage surrounding organs.

I’d have a specially fitted stent with holes so that the blood could keep flowing through the branches of the aorta.

Apparently it can be very difficult to fit a stent like this by hand, so using the robotic arm was perfect.

When they said I’d be the first person in the world to have this operation, I was amazed they’d picked me.

So in January this year, I had the surgery under general anaesthetic. It took about four-and-a-half hours.

I was a bit bruised afterwards from the incisions on my groin, and I was kept in for 13 days for observation as it was such a new procedure.

But just a couple of days after the operation, I started to feel brand new.

I’m hardly ever breathless now. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders to know I don’t have the aneurysm any more.

So long as I carry on watching what I eat — less fatty stuff and alcohol, and lots of vegetables and fruit — I should be OK and no more prone to getting another aneurysm than anyone else my age.

I’ve got a new lease of life. In April, I’m going to see about getting my hips operated on.

I’ve told my grandchildren — I’ve got six — to watch out, because soon I’ll finally be able to catch up with them.

THE SURGEON

Professor Nick Cheshire is consultant vascular surgeon and head of circulation and renal sciences at Imperial College Healthcare, London. He says:

Aneurysms can occur in any artery, but they most frequently strike in the aorta, which is the body’s main artery, running from the heart to the abdomen.

Most aortic aneurysms are in the part of the aorta that passes through the abdomen and are called abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs).

As part of the ageing process, the wall of the aorta can lose its normal strength and elasticity, causing it to bulge.

The main concern is that the aneurysm might burst — like a balloon being over-inflated. Patients will suffer internal bleeding leading to collapse and death.

The death rate from rupture is over 80 per cent: half of patients die before even getting to hospital.

They’re most common in men, people with high blood pressure, and those over the age of 65. Four in 100 men and two in 100 women over the age of 65 will have an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Most people with an aneurysm are not aware they have one, as in seven out of ten cases there are no symptoms. If symptoms do occur, it is when the ballooning is so large it causes mild abdominal or back pains.

However, the NHS is now rolling out a screening programme in which all men over 65 will be invited for a simple scan to test for AAAs.

Traditionally, aneurysms have been treated with open surgery where surgeons make an incision in the stomach and cut out the swollen piece of aorta, replacing it with an artificial artery made of polyester.

This is a major operation and carries risks such as excessive blood loss and infection. One in 20 patients die during or because of this operation.

In a newer, much safer technique called endovascular repair, we pass a polyester fabric graft wrapped around a metal stent up through one of the arteries in the groin into the area of the aneurysm.

The graft material bonds with the arterial wall and the blood flows through the stent instead of the weakened aneurysm. The advantage here is that there is just a 3cm incision in the groin.

However, for 10-15 per cent of people with abdominal aortic aneurysms, surgery of any kind is considered too risky as their aneurysm is too close to the branches of the aorta.

The branches of the aorta are the renal arteries to the kidneys either side, the coeliac artery to the liver, spleen and stomach, and the superior mesenteric artery to the bowel.

Operating on this area can damage surrounding blood vessels and the interruption of blood supply to vital organs.

The mortality of this surgery is two to three times that of repair of a standard abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Therefore, with these patients, we usually observe the aneurysm until the risk of rupture is greater than the risk of operation.

However, last year scientists in California developed a 3mm diameter, flexible robotic tube which can feed the stent into the patient’s body with far greater precision than the human hand.

The surgeon operates the arm using a console about five metres from the patient. It has a monitor with X-ray images showing an internal picture of the patient’s blood vessels.

The arm can be manouevred in every direction so we can access hard-to-reach parts with much less risk of damage to the blood vessels in the branches from the aorta.

Mr Merchant had a specialised, custom-made stent known as a fenestrated endograft fitted. This has multiple holes which correlate to the branches of the aorta.

We then attached three smaller side branch stents going through the holes into the kidney arteries and the artery supplying his bowel, all covered by the fabric graft.

The robot could also be used for treatment of carotid artery narrowing in the neck to prevent stroke, and to open up narrowed blood vessels in the legs that cause gangrene.

The robot arm operation is available on the NHS at St Mary’s Hospital in London, as well as privately at St Mary’s Lindo Wing.

We’re putting in place a teaching programme for vascular surgical teams to come to St Mary’s and observe us using the system, so I hope it will soon start to roll out across the country.

The system costs around £1.2 million.

For further details, tel. 020 7886 1610 or visit www.imperial.nhs.uk/stmarys/ourservices/vascularsurgery


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2097409/The-robotic-arm-save-fatal-aneurysm.html