Randy P. Martin

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 9 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that beta blockers, medications that are used to control blood pressure and heart rhythms, may also help lung cancer patients live longer.

The researchers found that patients with non-small-cell lung cancer being treated with rad...Full Article

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with blocked leg arteries are less likely to suffer complications after a procedure to open their arteries if they quit smoking and take aspirin and cholesterol-lowering statins, a new study indicates.

However, too few patients take such ste...Full Article

THURSDAY, Dec. 20 (HealthDay News) -- The blood thinner Pradaxa should not be used to prevent stroke or blood clots in patients with mechanical heart valves, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a warning issued Wednesday.

As the agency noted, a clinical trial in Europe was halte...Full Article

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Residents of several Southern states are among the most likely to have poor heart health in the United States, a new study finds.

But the country as a whole is having trouble. Only about 3 percent of U.S. adults surveyed who don't have heart problems...Full Article

MONDAY, Dec. 3 (HealthDay News) -- People suffering from heart disease who eat a heart-healthy diet may reduce their odds of having a heart attack or stroke, a new Canadian study suggests.

Those benefits came on top of those seen from taking heart medications, such as statins, blood press...Full Article

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- The widely used heart drug digoxin is associated with an increased risk of death in people with the common heart rhythm disorder know as atrial fibrillation, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 4,000 patients with atrial fibri...Full Article

TUESDAY, Nov. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Two new studies examine the effectiveness of medications frequently prescribed for heart failure -- the heart's inability to pump blood properly throughout the body.

For the 5.7 million Americans who suffer from heart failure, shortness of breath and ...Full Article

TUESDAY, Nov. 27 (HealthDay News) -- People with an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) are at increased risk for a common and potentially dangerous heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation, a large study suggests.

The researchers said their findings point to the value of long-te...Full Article

TUESDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- The HeartWare Ventricular Assist System, a pumping device to help people with end-stage heart failure who are awaiting a transplant, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Known as a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), it helps ...Full Article

MONDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) -- More bad news for the jobless: Heart attack risk rises with unemployment, particularly in the first year, new research suggests.

What's more, heart risks associated with repeated joblessness may be on a par with that posed by major cardiovascular risk f...Full Article

THURSDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who exercise regularly, even at a moderate level, are less prone to key biological indicators of heart failure risk, a new study finds.

"We're not talking about seniors trying to run half-marathons. We're talking about the impact of much ...Full Article

THURSDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Specific DNA variations explain more than 10 percent of the inherited genetic risk for developing heart disease, a new study suggests.

Researchers discovered 20 previously unidentified genetic variations in more than 63,000 people with coronary artery ...Full Article

THURSDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDay News) -- All those hours Americans spend in their office chairs or on their sofas may be packing on a particularly unhealthy form of fat around the heart, a new study suggests.

What's more, the fat stayed in place even when people undertook regular exercise, ac...Full Article

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 7 (HealthDay News) -- People suffering from heart failure may have a nearly 60 percent higher risk of developing cancer, a preliminary study suggests.

Moreover, cancer appeared to increase the risk of death in heart failure patients by 46 percent, according to lead resear...Full Article