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) Mini heart attack best treated like the big one
After ruling out those who are having acid reflux pain or an anxiety attack, doctors use an electrocardiogram (EKG) to assess the person's heart function and a blood analysis to reveal any damage to the heart muscle.These simple tests, coupled with obvious signs of distress, are often enough to diagnose a person suffering from a heart attack. Those patients are wheeled into a catheterization lab, where doctors thread a line from a leg artery up to the patient's heart to open the coronary artery blockage that is causing the heart attack.
But only about one-third of people who show up with some measure of heart distress have such clear warning signs of a heart attack, says Deepak Bhatt, chief of cardiology at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and an interventional cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. More>>
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) Is ineffective oesophageal motility associated with
IEM is associated with an increased acid clearance times in the distal oesophagus. Gastropharyngeal reflux causes supraoesophageal manifestations such as globus, chronic cough, hoarseness, asthma, chronic sinusitis, or other otorhinolaryngologic diseases. It might be hypothesised that patients with IEM would be unable to clear refluxed acid; this would lead to a prolonged oesophageal dwell time of the refluxed acid and then the refluxed acid would reach to a higher level. As a result, it would be presumed that patients with IEM have more gastropharyngeal reflux than those patients with normal oesophageal motility.A research article published on 21 October 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Prof. Kim from Pusan National University Hospital evaluated the association between IEM and gastropharyngeal reflux in a large series of patients who underwent ambulatory 24-hour dual-probe pH monitoring for the evaluation of supraoesophageal symptoms. More>>
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) Guidelines Bypass Endoscopic Cancer Screening for Chronic GERD
Recommendation of antireflux surgery for patients with an esophageal GERD syndrome responsive to acid suppressive therapy, but who cannot tolerate therapy. Empirical trial of twice-daily PPI therapy for patients with suspected reflux chest pain syndrome after carefully considering cardiac causes.The only other supported recommendations with grade B, fair evidence to support improved outcomes, included:
Weight loss for overweight or obese patients with esophageal GERD syndromes. Lifestyle modification including elevation of the head of the bed for selected patients, avoiding late meals and specific foods or activities tailored to the circumstances of the patient. Twice-daily PPI therapy for esophageal syndrome patients with an inadequate response to once-daily therapy. More>>
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) For some women, pregnancy is a grave struggle
With the fetus crowding my stomach, I started getting acid reflux, a common problem in pregnancy, which reaccelerated my vomiting. As the weeks went by, the condition worsened. So at 38 weeks, I checked into Mount Sinai to induce labor.I threw up for the last time about 20 minutes before the arrival of my son, at 2:54 a.m. July 25. He weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and was in excellent health. I held him, he looked up at me and the euphoria from December came rushing back. I didn’t think about the months in between. The nausea vanished almost immediately.That morning, a nurse who had taken care of me during my hospitalizations popped in and asked if I felt like breakfast. It was eggs and sausages, pancakes, cereal and fruit salad. I planned to save half for Archie, who had fallen asleep on a pullout chair. More>> - (
) Abilene Christian quarterback’s heart wouldn’t let him quit
A stress test showed the abnormality after Malone complained of severe acid reflux.Tulane wouldn’t medically clear him, so he spent another year there as just a student. He transferred to Texas A&M-Commerce and was cleared by doctors at Medical City in Dallas.
"They acted like I had a bad heart," Malone said of Tulane’s doctors. "I still thought I was done. As far as football, I was floating in the wind."
A&M-Commerce coaches stood outside his classes to recruit him, but the pitch didn’t sell.
Dan Gonzalez, a former high school assistant coach of Malone’s, then an assistant to Chris Thomsen at ACU, called the quarterback in late 2004.
"I told him, 'I’m just going to stay here,’ " Malone said. More>>