President – Zavin Arellano was two weeks old when a physician had to turn his tiny bureau and use on his modify tinier mettle. (more…)

A new high-definition body scanner is giving doctors the clearest ever view inside the human body – helping them spot problems that could cause heart attacks.

The HD body scanner, manufactured by GE Healthcare, generates pictures of diseased arteries in the heart that are twice as clear as older machines.

It means doctors at Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital can identify problems at an early stage, long before patients suffer a heart attack or even develop any symptoms.

Professor of Radiology Carl Roobottom told Sky News: “When we started doing the heart research in 2002, we used to struggle to see the blood vessels, let alone see the narrowings within them.

“Now, we have a technique that can see to within a fraction of a millimetre.”

In just five seconds, the scanner takes 220 X-rays, each of them a cross-section of the heart.

Computers then turn the raw snapshots into a 3D image. (more…)

“We want to improve community awareness of the importance of recognizing stroke symptoms and calling 911 immediately,” said Andrea Sekura, registered nurse and administrative clinical director of Winter Haven Hospital’s stroke and neurosurgery unit.

“We don’t want people to wait to see if the symptoms go away.”

TPA, the clot-busting drug most commonly given to stroke victims whose stroke comes from blockage of vital blood vessels to the brain, needs to be given within three hours.

Patients can be treated a little further out in time if they get to Lakeland Regional Medical Center and other hospitals with interventional radiologists using advanced tools to get into the vessel and remove the clots. Even then, the deadline only extends a couple of hours… (more…)

The experts say the longer a patient goes without treatment, permanent heart damage or death could result.

Speed is the key when treating a heart attack victim, said Dr. Khaldoon Alaswad, a cardiologist at ThedaCare’s Appleton Medical Center.

“(For) every minute that passes … a person’s chances of dying increases 3 percent,” said Alaswad….. (more…)