AHA: Women at Equal Risk for Peripheral Artery Disease. Women with peripheral artery disease (PAD) are two to three times more likely to have a stroke or heart attack than women without PAD—yet the condition remains often unrecognized and untreated.

New Clinical Guidelines for Peripheral Arterial Disease. The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have just released an updated guideline for the diagnosis and management of peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

New Information Regarding Blood Clots and Birth Control Pills. Patients may ask you about some highly publicized information regarding the risk of deep vein thrombosis and some popular brands of birth control pills. Here’s what you need to know.

Prevent the Event: Comprehensive Strategies to Identify Patients at Risk for Atherothrombosis. Atherosclerosis, a hardening of an artery specifically due to an atheromatous plaque, is an ongoing process that typically affects the medium- and larger-sized arteries of the cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular beds. Recent US data have confirmed that despite a decrease in age-standardized national death rates, the absolute number of deaths from these conditions continues to increase, and prevalence is sharply increasing in other parts of the world. Thus, atherothrombotic diseases are, and are projected still to be, the leading cause of death worldwide by 2020.

Prevent the Event: A Case Discussion of Atherothrombosis. Rates of death from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have been steadily declining over the past few decades. In spite of these declines, atherothrombotic disease continues to be a worldwide challenge in terms of morbidity, premature death, and disability with tremendous costs to patients, healthcare systems, and society.

Reducing Disability and Mortality of Stroke: The Importance of Recognition and Action—Part 2. The treatment guidelines for stroke are based on the type of stroke. A careful initial evaluation is key to implementing the appropriate interventions. Emergency evaluation should include not only the ABCDs but also the use of CT scans to determine whether the patient has suffered an ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke.

Reducing Disability and Mortality of Stroke: The Importance of Recognition and Action - Part 1. Every 40 seconds, stroke afflicts someone in the United States and every 3 to 4 minutes, someone dies of stroke. This amounts to approximately 137,265 deaths in America annually from this condition. As the third leading cause of death, strokes occur in nearly 795,000 Americans each year and, of these, 610,000 are first attacks and 185,000 are recurrent strokes. The survivors of stroke have a significantly higher risk of recurrent stroke.