some research the VA is doing

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Cardiovascular Disease

Areas of focus for VA research on cardiovascular disease include evaluating and

developing new treatments, probing the genetic and lifestyle causes of

cardiovascular disease, and developing new rehabilitation methods, especially

for stroke. Studies range from biomedical lab experiments on animal models of

heart disease to large, multisite clinical trials involving thousands of

patients.

Examples of VA Research Advances

Heart attack on a chip—Researchers are testing a disposable microchip that can

diagnose a heart attack in minutes. The chip senses molecules in saliva that are

markers for a heart attack. Heart attacks currently are diagnosed with blood

tests, which can take hours to complete, and echocardiograms, which miss the

diagnosis in about a third of patients. Five hundred patients are being enrolled

in the two-year study at the Houston VA. Popular Science gave the chip a " Best

of What's New " technology award in 2008.

Better preventive therapy—Gastrointestinal complications such as ulcers and

internal bleeding are serious side effects of the anti-clotting drugs taken to

prevent heart attack and stroke. VA researchers and others found that patients

taking anti-clotting drugs who also took a drug for ulcer relief were less

likely to have these complications. The trial included 3,761 patients and lasted

six months. All patients took aspirin and clopidogrel (sold as Plavix); half

were given the anti-ulcer drug as well, while the other half took a placebo.

Modeling impact of salt reduction—Reducing American's sodium intake by about 10

percent would prevent more than one million strokes and heart attacks and reduce

the nation's medical costs by more than $32 billion, according to a model by VA

researchers from Palo Alto. In partnership with Stanford University scientists,

they also modeled the effects of a tax that would raise the prices of salty

foods. That scenario was expected to cut sodium intake by about six percent. The

recommended daily sodium intake for an adult is 2,300 mg; the average U.S. adult

consumes 3,900 mg, most of which comes from processed foods.

Comparing bypass methods—In a clinical trial involving 757 patients at 11 VA

medical centers, coronary artery bypass surgery had similar outcomes whether

doctors used the radial artery (from the forearm, wrist and hand) or the

saphenous vein (from the leg) to reroute blood flow to the heart. Contrary to

what many surgeons have come to believe, using the arm artery didn't result in

improved patency (the graft remaining open).