Hypercholesterolaemia and coronary risk

Studies have shown that only 10.6% of people with hypercholesterolaemia receive a statin or treatment. There is a within-person variability of cholesterol measurements and therefore a one-time measurement of cholesterol tends to underestimate the strength of the relationship between cholesterol and coronary heart disease. Multiple cholesterol measurements over time (decades) such as done in some epidemiological studies are therefore important to get an idea of life-time risk of atherosclerosis as the disease develops over decades.http://www.specialistforum.co.zaam2016Internal Medicin

LDL-cholesterol reduction vs LDL target level : which is more important?

There is enough documented evidence of the role of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).http://www.specialistforum.co.zaam2016Internal Medicin

The first presentation of cardiovascular disease

For decades there has been an emphasis on the first presentation of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke and subsequently the effort in prevention was on these two conditions. This strategy was very effective and the decline in MI and stroke achieved was about 33% over the past decade.http://www.specialistforum.co.zaam2016Internal Medicin

Cryptogenic, embolic stroke-looking backstage

Stroke is a common and devastating event and the majority of cases are caused by thromboembolism from the left atrium, left ventricle or left sided valves. This case report describes a case of embolic stroke with the origin of the thrombus from the left inferior pulmonary vein. The importance of this case is twofold. Firstly, it is the fourth case report of pulmonary venous thrombosis, a very rare condition, due to COVID-19 infection and secondly, it focuses attention on the fact that the left atrium is not the most proximal address of arterial thromboembolism—the pulmonary veins are. Thus, it is proposed that a thorough assessment of the pulmonary veins should be done in all cases of arterial thromboembolism.https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-stroke-and-cerebrovascular-diseaseshj2023Internal Medicin

ACE hypertension treatment

Abundant evidence from randomised controlled trials has documented that antihypertensive drug treatment is of benefit in reducing cardiovascular (CV) events in people with hypertension.http://media24business.com/specialist-forum-journalam201

Broken heart syndrome

Takotsubo was first described in Japan in 1990, but subsequently it was described globally and in 2013 there were 1879 publications on the subject. The main characteristic is transient reversible systolic dysfunction of the left ventricle and 90% of the cases are in women.References available on request.http://www.specialistforum.co.zaam201

Beta blockers and their combinations in the management of hypertension

Beta blockers have been prescribed for the treatment of primary hypertension for a very long time. Currently, it is doubtful whether this is still a good idea. In fact, many are of the opinion that beta blockers should be relegated to a fourth-line drug, if used at all, for the treatment of hypertension. So what happened? Why the change of heart? Basically, two issues are driving this new view of beta blockers.www.safpj.co.z

Hypertension and sexual dysfunction

No abstract available.http://www.safpj.co.z

Vitamin D in acute and chronic disease

It has emerged over the past 10-20 years that the change in our lifestyle has led to the widespread deficiency of vitamin D. These lifestyle changes include the avoidance of sunlight (voluntary or greater reliance on artificial light), the reduction in the consumption of milk, and the worldwide epidemic of obesity.http://www.sajcn.co.za/index.php/SAJC

Pharmaceutical drugs in the treatment of STEMI

Our concept of ST-segment Elevated Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) refers to when coronary blood supply decreases abruptly after a thrombotic occlusion. The underlying mechanism leading to the thrombotic event is an unstable atherosclerotic plaque which ruptured (or cracked or eroded) exposing the content of the plaque to the blood initiating thrombogenesis.http://www.specialistforum.co.zaam2016Internal Medicin