Top 10 Stroke Prevention Guidelines

1. Know your blood pressure. Have it checked at least once a year. If it is not elevated, work with your doctor to keep it under control.

2. If you smoke, quit.

3. Find out if you have atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disturbance.

4. If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation.

5. Find out if you have high cholesterol, and if so, work with your doctor to control it.

6. If you are diabetic, follow your doctor%u2019s recommendations carefully to control your diabetes.

7. Include exercise in the activities you enjoy in your daily routine.

8. Enjoy a lower-sodium (salt), lower-fat diet.

9. Ask your doctor if you have circulation problems that increase your risk for stroke.

10. If you experience any stroke symptoms, seek immediate medical attention.

Source: After Stroke: The Guide to Recovering Your Health and Preventing Another Stroke, by Dr. Joel Stein, Dr. Julie Silver and Dr. Elizabeth Pegg Frates.
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Carotid Artery Stenting Deemed Safe Treatment Option For Elderly In Recent Study:
"Carotid artery stenting can be performed safely in patients 80 years or older, according to study results released for the first time today at the 3rd Annual American Society of Interventional & Therapeutic Neuroradiology (ASITN)...... "

Researchers Discover a Genetic Cause for Atrial Fibrillation:
"Mayo Clinic investigators have discovered a gene mutation causing chaotic electrical activation of the heart muscle and atrial fibrillation (AF), a common heart-rhythm disturbance affecting millions of Americans. Atrial fibrillation can lead to heart failure and stroke.
'The discovery underscores the significance of heredity in susceptibility to atrial fibrillation,' explains Timothy M. Olson, M.D., director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Laboratory at Mayo Clinic...."

Marriott goes smoke-free -
(7/20/2006): "90 percent of hotelier's rooms already nonsmoking, chain's officials say..........."

Meditation benefits patients with heart disease: "In a study of adults with
coronary heart disease (CHD), who were stable and were
receiving optimal medical care, 16 weeks of transcendental
meditation (TM) not only led to significant reductions in blood
pressure, but also improved heart rate variability and insulin
resistance, which is associated with an increase risk of
diabetes. These beneficial health effects were achieved without
changes in body weight, medication or psychosocial variables,
investigators report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. 'This study, using a rigorous study design with NIH
funding, demonstrates incremental benefit of TM to standard
good medical care in CHD patients,' study investigator Dr. C.
Noel Bairey Merz from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles told Reuters Health.

'CHD patients who want to 'do it all' for optimal risk
reduction should consider learning and practicing TM,' Merz
recommended."

Barrow growing...Neurological facility's 7-story tower at St. Joe's to double capacity, add high-tech procedures
(Arizona Republic-July 8)

"It's where Saudi royalty came for intricate back surgery.

It helped treat Pvt. Jessica Lynch's war injuries.

It's where patients are chilled almost to death so their brain surgeries can go more smoothly.

And now it's getting bigger.

The new Barrow Neurosciences Tower at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in central Phoenix will open to patients next week. The $160 million, seven-story tower will double the surgical capacity at world-renowned Barrow.

Barrow now will have the largest number of operating rooms of its type in the world, said Dr. Robert Spetzler, director of the Barrow Neurological Institute.

"There are few, if any, neuroscience centers like this in the world," he said. "It's incredible to have a building this size, with this many surgical suites and this many patient beds solely dedicated to neuroscience care."

For Barrow, the expansion means a chance to add technology as well as beds.

Among the new features is an extremely powerful magnetic resonance imaging machine that can provide immediate brain scans during operations.

That will let doctors check during surgery to make sure the entire brain tumor has been removed. Now, patients have to be sewn up, sent for the scans and then sent back for surgery again....First of its type

The MRI machine, a 3-Tesla Intraoperative Magnetic, is the first of its type to be installed at any hospital. Other MRI machines are typically 1.5-Tesla, which means Barrow's new MRI provides even more detailed scans.

"It's the difference between regular television and high-definition television," Spetzler said......Because the magnet is so powerful - it can pull a gun out of a holster - patients are loaded into the machine on special iron-free equipment.

Another gee-whiz feature of the tower is its "supercool" operating room, where the temperature can be reduced to 55 degrees from 68 to 70 degrees in just three minutes.

The chilling is key for a special technique Spetzler developed to bring a patient to the brink of death to lower the risk of complications during brain surgery.

In "cardiac standstill," doctors chill the patient's body so that the heart and blood flow are stopped. That makes it easier for a surgeon to go in and clip a brain aneurysm. Spetzler has done the procedure 107 times. The Discovery Health Channel broadcast one of the operations recently.

The neuroscience tower also contains:
• Eleven surgical suites dedicated to neurosurgery. Each suite has a microscope connected to a computer that allows surgeons to see on a computer screen an extremely magnified image of what they are operating on.

• All of the suites will have video-conferencing capabilities that will allow physicians and medical students around the world to view what is happening in the operating rooms.

• Sixty-four intensive-care beds and 80 acute-care beds devoted to neurological and neurosurgical care. That's more than double what the hospital has now.

Barrow also has the largest neurosurgery residency-training program in the nation and more certified neuroscience registered nurses than any other hospital in the United States."

Older Men Can Make Big Gains to Avoid Heart Disease Risk with Five Habits

"High-risk coronary heart disease patients achieve therapeutic goals effectively with rosuvastatin
Rosuvastatin 10 or 20 mg is an effective and safe therapeutic option for high-risk patients to achieve their lipid and apolipoprotein targets.

According to a study from the United States, "National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines for patients at a high risk of coronary heart disease set a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) target of<100 mg/dL. This target can be difficult to attain with diet and current therapy."

"In a 16-week multinational trial, 1993 high-risk patients were randomized to rosuvastatin 20 mg, atorvastatin 10 mg, atorvastatin 20 mg, simvastatin 20 mg, or simivastatin 40 mg for 8 .......