Angina

Some severe forms of angina, chest pain caused by insufficient blood supply to the heart, can make light jogging or even walking difficult. Now a small study indicates that injecting patients with their own stem cells might offer some relief. In 167 patients with angina that didn't respond to drugs, angioplasty or surgery, Northwestern researchers coaxed a type of stem cell, called CD34+, to grow in the patient's body, and extracted samples from each patient. The researcher's hunch: These cells might stimulate the growth of new blood vessels that could improve blood delivery to heart tissue.

Some severe forms of angina, chest pain caused by insufficient blood supply to the heart, can make light jogging or even walking difficult. Now a small study indicates that injecting patients with their own stem cells might offer some relief. In 167 patients with angina that didn't respond to drugs, angioplasty or surgery, Northwestern researchers coaxed a type of stem cell, called CD34+, to grow in the patient's body, and extracted samples from each patient. The researcher's hunch: These cells might stimulate the growth of new blood vessels that could improve blood delivery to heart tissue.

Sen. William L. Armstrong (R-Colo.) has been hospitalized for treatment of angina, a heart ailment, his office disclosed Friday. His staff said in a brief statement that Armstrong was admitted to a Washington-area hospital and would return to his Senate duties next week. Armstrong, 53, who has announced he will not seek reelection this year, had previously undergone angioplasty, a medical procedure that clears blocked arteries to the heart.

When belched out of cars and factories at high levels, the noxious gasses nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide are deadly poisons. But scientists are finding that, in miniscule doses, those same gases can serve as medicines. "There's been an explosion of work in the last decade looking at these molecules in terms of therapeutics," says Dr. Mark Gladwin, a lung specialist and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. These unwholesome components of smog, automobile emissions and industrial exhaust also happen to be essential chemicals in the body, where they exist in minute amounts.

The blood-thinning drug Lovenox works as well as a standard artery-clearing drug in patients with severe heart-related chest pain, but neither reduced the risk of death after a year of treatment, a study has found. The research, paid for by Aventis Pharmaceuticals, a member of the Sanofi-Aventis Group that makes Lovenox, involved nearly 10,000 patients at 487 hospitals in 12 countries who suffered from acute coronary syndromes -- severe angina that cannot be treated with surgery or angioplasty.

CV Therapeutics Inc. needs to conduct more studies on its Ranexa drug before it can be used to treat chest pain, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said. The Palo Alto biotechnology company is seeking approval to sell Ranexa for treating angina, the pain caused when the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen. The panel agreed with the FDA's staff, which Monday recommended more tests because of concerns over how Ranexa affects heart rhythms.

WELL-KNOWN for the crushing pain they can produce in the chest, heart attacks don't usually occur more than a few times. Angina pain, however, can be just as intense -- and sufferers can be doubled over in agony several times a week. Although the cardiac condition is not fatal, the underlying cause makes it more likely that sufferers will have a heart attack.

So Michael Fox, director of the Humane Society, is horrified that genetic engineers who now improve livestock will inevitably some day be "tinkering with the human being" (Part I, April 18). Has Fox seen people with cancer, AIDS, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, angina, or epilepsy? Has he seen people with high blood pressure and people with low I.Q.? Hurrah, I say, for those who would tinker to improve the human being! They should start this afternoon. GEORGE W. FEINSTEIN Altadena

For some people, exercising 20 minutes a day could relieve chest pain more effectively than an angioplasty with stents. German researchers studied 101 men age 70 and younger who suffered mild angina during exertion such as exercise. All were considered at low risk of heart attack because they had stable coronary artery disease and their hearts had good pumping ability.

Certain dates stick in your memory. One I may never forget is Dec. 15, 1998. That was the night I didn't have a heart attack, though you could have fooled me for a few hours that evening. I had just lugged a Christmas tree from the trunk of my car to our backyard, where I planned to leave it until the next day. As I leaned over to set the tree down on the patio, I felt a pain in my chest. A rush of thoughts hit me, none terribly happy. I ignored them. Not for long, though.

WELL-KNOWN for the crushing pain they can produce in the chest, heart attacks don't usually occur more than a few times. Angina pain, however, can be just as intense -- and sufferers can be doubled over in agony several times a week. Although the cardiac condition is not fatal, the underlying cause makes it more likely that sufferers will have a heart attack.

The blood-thinning drug Lovenox works as well as a standard artery-clearing drug in patients with severe heart-related chest pain, but neither reduced the risk of death after a year of treatment, a study has found. The research, paid for by Aventis Pharmaceuticals, a member of the Sanofi-Aventis Group that makes Lovenox, involved nearly 10,000 patients at 487 hospitals in 12 countries who suffered from acute coronary syndromes -- severe angina that cannot be treated with surgery or angioplasty.

For some people, exercising 20 minutes a day could relieve chest pain more effectively than an angioplasty with stents. German researchers studied 101 men age 70 and younger who suffered mild angina during exertion such as exercise. All were considered at low risk of heart attack because they had stable coronary artery disease and their hearts had good pumping ability.

CV Therapeutics Inc. needs to conduct more studies on its Ranexa drug before it can be used to treat chest pain, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel said. The Palo Alto biotechnology company is seeking approval to sell Ranexa for treating angina, the pain caused when the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen. The panel agreed with the FDA's staff, which Monday recommended more tests because of concerns over how Ranexa affects heart rhythms.

Eclipse Surgical Technologies on Tuesday said it filed an application for Food and Drug Administration approval of its laser heart device on the basis of strong trial results. Shares in Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Eclipse rose 19 cents to $8.50 in trading Tuesday. The application's timely filing is encouraging, said Rich Mueller, Eclipse president and chief operating officer. "We are extremely proud of our execution speed in achieving this great milestone," Mueller said.

Patients with unstable angina do not necessarily have to be hospitalized if they are otherwise at low risk for heart attacks and are seen by doctors again within 72 hours, federal health officials said Tuesday. They issued guidelines for the condition that are intended to help doctors quickly determine the appropriate treatment for patients, including whether they should be admitted to hospitals or treated as outpatients.

Auto magnate Henry Ford II, who for 35 years ran the automobile company founded by his grandfather, managing it from the brink of disaster to the top rank of industrial power, died Tuesday in a Detroit hospital. Ford, 70, who had a history of heart problems, was admitted to Cottage Hospital in suburban Grosse Pointe Farms on Sept. 9 for treatment of pneumonia he contracted while living at his country estate outside London. He was transferred Sept.

Patients with unstable angina do not necessarily have to be hospitalized if they are otherwise at low risk for heart attacks and are seen by doctors again within 72 hours, federal health officials said Tuesday. They issued guidelines for the condition that are intended to help doctors quickly determine the appropriate treatment for patients, including whether they should be admitted to hospitals or treated as outpatients.

Sen. William L. Armstrong (R-Colo.) has been hospitalized for treatment of angina, a heart ailment, his office disclosed Friday. His staff said in a brief statement that Armstrong was admitted to a Washington-area hospital and would return to his Senate duties next week. Armstrong, 53, who has announced he will not seek reelection this year, had previously undergone angioplasty, a medical procedure that clears blocked arteries to the heart.

In Switzerland, a little more than a dozen years ago, Dr. Andreas Gruentzig performed for the first time on a human being the medical procedure that is now commonly called coronary balloon angioplasty. The balloon was guided by a catheter inserted into an artery in the leg and fed up toward the heart to the point at which plaque blocked the flow of blood. By inflating the tiny balloon, he opened the channel and restored blood flow.