TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Inexpensive ultrasound imaging may be a simple way to help determine who's at high risk for a heart attack or other cardiovascular issues, a new study says.

Researchers conducted ultrasound imaging on the carotid arteries -- the two vessels that supply blood to the head and neck -- of 1,268 patients who were asymptomatic but at high risk for cardiovascular disease. They found that nearly half the patients had carotid artery disease.

The findings are published in the September issue of the journal Radiology.

Drinking too much of the popular Red Bull energy drink may lead to heart damage, says an Australian study that included 30 university students, ages 20 to 24.

The researchers found that drinking just one 250ml sugar-free can of the caffeinated drink boosted the "stickiness" of the blood and increased the risk of blood clots. After drinking Red Bull, the students had a cardiovascular profile similar to that of someone with heart disease, the Times (U.K.) reported.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- There are some advantages to artery-opening angioplasty over drug treatment for people with heart disease, but those advantages disappear within three years, according to the latest report on a pivotal study on the subject.

Angioplasty does offer a higher quality of life for months to a couple of years, said study leader Dr. William S. Weintraub, chief of cardiology at the Christiana Health Care System in Delaware.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- There are some advantages to artery-opening angioplasty over drug treatment for people with heart disease, but those advantages disappear within three years, according to the latest report on a pivotal study on the subject.

Angioplasty does offer a higher quality of life for months to a couple of years, said study leader Dr. William S. Weintraub, chief of cardiology at the Christiana Health Care System in Delaware.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Three new reports challenge current guidelines on how long after cardiac death doctors must wait before taking a heart from an infant organ donor.

There's no question that organ donation saves lives, and there's also no question that there aren't enough donor organs to save everyone on the transplant list. However, deciding who is a suitable organ donor, particularly when the potential donor is an infant, is not so clear-cut.

MONDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Some obese people don't seem to be at increased risk for heart disease, while some normal-weight people have a number of heart disease risk factors, according to two studies.

In the first study, German researchers analyzed 314 people, ages 18 to 69, and divided them into four groups: normal weight, overweight, obese but still sensitive to insulin, and obese with insulin resistance.

MONDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) can help heart failure patients' hearts beat more efficiently and effectively, but most U.S. hospitals don't use it as it should be used, a new report finds.

CRT involves doctors implanting a device that paces the heart's main chambers to beat in sync.

FRIDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A protein produced by fat cells may play a pivotal role in increasing an older American's risk for a heart attack even if they are losing weight, a new report says.

Levels of adiponectin increase in the bloodstream when people lose weight and appear to endanger the cardiovascular health of older people, according to the new study to be published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Most people who have strokes don't act quickly enough to get the clot-dissolving treatment that can limit brain damage, a new study finds.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- A mesh patch designed to regenerate cardiac muscle damaged by a heart attack or heart failure has done well in animal studies and preliminary human trials.

The patch is made of vicryl, a material used for suturing injured tissue that is later absorbed by the body, explained Jordan J. Lancaster, a predoctoral fellow at the Southern Arizona VA Medical Center in Tucson, who reported on the animal studies Wednesday at an American Heart Association meeting in Keystone, Colo.