As we are starting to live with the facts that COVID-19 is not leaving us any time soon, sense of danger and urgency start to fade away. More than two years have passed, we have made great strides in combating the pandemics. With advanced technologies, vaccine and antiviral drug developments provide us potential means out … Read more
Moyamoya disease is a progressive cerebrovascular disorder that often begins during childhood. Patients with Moyamoya disease have injuries in their blood vessels at the base of the brain. The term ‘moyamoya’ comes from Japanese and means ‘puff of smoke’, which describes the appearance of abnormal blood vessels. Symptoms of Moyamoya disease include acute strokes, transient … Read more
Lipid abnormalities can be classified into four clinical groups:1) elevated triglycerides, 2) low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C),3) elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and 4) elevated lipoprotein A. Lipoprotein A disorder has been the least lipid abnormality studied from a clinical standpoint. Although many mendelian and genome-wide association studies have shown an association between elevated lipoprotein … Read more
I remember being a medical student and listening to a podcast where I first heard the term MINOCA (myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries) in 2019. I was deciding between internal medicine and OBGYN at this time, and learning about heart disease specific to and common in women naturally grasped my attention. Dr. Bairey Merz … Read more
It has been just over a month since the American Heart Association Scientific Session 2021 concluded and I am elated to be a part of the Early Career Blogger program with a sponsored free access to the scientific sessions which also included the media pass! My first thought after glancing at the schedule was, there … Read more
The AHA ReSS council had a fascinating 2021 meeting, including trials making us reassess the optimal temperature for patients following cardiac arrest (TTM2) and those investigating the potential new application of existing meds repurposed to cardiac arrest (e.g. Tocilizumab [IL-6 inhibitor] to reduce cytokine storm post-arrest, LPC-DHA to improve mitochondrial function). What really put these … Read more
Mental health was a big topic of conversation at AHA21, a fitting topic when pandemic related stress, clinician burn out, and depression seem to be at an all-time high. As a graduate student myself, I was interested in attending sessions that touched on depression, wellness, and work-life balance topics. A Health and Tech panel session … Read more
It is safe to say that AHA Scientific Sessions 2021, conducted virtually from November 13th to 15th was a big hit. The ease and flexibility of attending the Sessions from the comfort of my couch made me forget my initial concerns of missing out on the in-person experience. It will be interesting to see how … Read more
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention has been traditionally divided into primary or pre-event prevention and secondary or re-event prevention. The AHA 2021 joint session with the American Society of Preventive Cardiology entitled “Blurred Lines-Overlap in High-Risk Primary Prevention vs Secondary Prevention” challenged this traditional concept. The session tackled the case of a high-risk patient where … Read more
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in Western countries and accounts for 17.3 million deaths/year globally1. In the United States, one in every three deaths are caused by CVD, and more than 130 million adults are projected to express CVD by 2035 clinically1. The unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, obesity, stress, smoking, … Read more