MIAMI – A new treatment could help more than one million Americans with an often overlooked heart problem.
Dr. Nish Patel, a cardiologist with Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute, said a recent clinical trial focused on fixing a leaking tricuspid valve with a small clipping device.
“And they found that those patients who received the tricuspid clip, 87 percent of those patients had reduction in the leakage of the tricuspid valve versus patients who underwent medical therapy only 4 percent of those patients had reduction in the leakage of the tricuspid valve,” Patel said.
Although the trial failed to show any improvement in mortality, Patel said the patients who underwent the clip procedure felt better and had an improvement in their overall quality of life, which he says is a key benefit for people living with this condition.
Another recent study found that people who don’t get a good night’s sleep may be at greater risk of developing asthma.
Looking at data from more than 450,000 people, researchers in the U.K. discovered that those with a genetic predisposition and poor sleep habits were twice as likely to develop the condition than people in a low-risk group.
The analysis found that even those with a genetic predisposition had a lower risk of asthma if they followed healthy sleep patterns.
And the federal government is planning to launch a $300 million database to study Alzheimer’s disease.
According to Reuters, the U.S. National Institute on Aging will fund the 6-year project.
It aims to build a database of up to 90 percent of the country’s population.
The platform could help identify Americans who are at risk of Alzheimer’s disease and address the under-representation of minorities in drug trials.