Widowmaker heart attack: Symptoms, survival rate, and more
A Death Sentence Turned Miracle Birth: 1-year-old Boy Survives Rare Heart Defect
The journey to making sure Megan Gallagher delivered a healthy baby was long. At their 20-week check-up, the doctor said the baby would be in hospice until he died.
DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — When Megan Gallagher and her husband, Philip Agostino, found out they were pregnant with their first child, they were overcome with joy.
However, the journey to making sure they delivered a healthy baby was long. At Gallagher's 20-week check-up, her first doctor said her baby would be in hospice until he died.
"It was just really hard to swallow, so we just left thinking our baby was going to die," said Gallagher.
According to doctors at UPMC, Gallagher's baby was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which is a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart. After Gallagher's appointment, she decided to seek a second opinion.
She talked with a close friend, a local cardiologist, about their situation. He recommended that the family meet with Sunil Patel, MD, a pediatric cardiologist and adult congenital heart disease specialist at UPMC Harrisburg.
"We found out that the baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means the baby's heart was undeveloped and non-functional, and these kinds of heart defects are complex and require a series of surgeries after birth," said Dr. Patel.
After a series of tests and time that wasn't given to the family from their first appointment, the team at UPMC devised a plan that Megan and Philip would move to Pittsburgh a month before Lorenzo was due so that the mom-to-be could be close to the team at UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital.
"We were just in that constant fear every day; it was a fight or flight feeling," said Gallagher.
Megan and Philip arrived at Magee-Women's Hospital, and on May 7, Lorenzo was born. He was transported to UPMC Children's for his next stage of care with the team at the Heart Institute.
"He was in this transport incubator, and I could only put my hand in and touch him," said Gallagher. "He was hooked up to all these wires and machines, and it was a very overwhelming feeling."
"There were probably 100 people at the hospital just for him… a lot of people all involved for him," said Agostino.
Just days after Lorenzo was born, he underwent open heart surgery with Dr. Morell, Mario Castro-Medina, MD, and Luciana da Fonseca da Silva, MD, two pediatric and adult cardiothoracic surgeons at UPMC Children's.
A few days after his surgery, Lorenzo was on ECMO, which is a form of life support for people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries that affect the function of their heart or lungs. Gallagher said there was a clot that was traveling to his heart. This resulted in the team rushing Lorenzo back to emergency surgery.
"You think you're in the clear because he just got surgery, but we weren't—anything could happen and it did," said Gallagher.
While Lorenzo spent three months recovering under close supervision by the UPMC team, Gallagher and Agostino stayed in the Ronald McDonald family rooms, which are designed to support families through their child's medical journey. Lorenzo's parents never left his side and were always a few steps away if they needed to see him.
Once Lorenzo became strong enough, Gallagher and Agostino were able to take baby Lorenzo home. Gallagher offered some advice to parents who may be going through the same thing, saying it's best to stay away from the internet and to only listen to the professionals.
"My mom said that people always post the bad but never the good moments," said Gallagher.
"I get sad with people who get told what we get told," said Gallagher. "What if we didn't seek a second opinion? What would we have done? So there's hope."
When Lorenzo is 3, he will need another surgery to make sure blood continues to flow through his body. Until then, the family continues to share their story and enjoy the miracle of their happy baby boy Lorenzo.
Three Signs On The Skin That Could Signal Heart Disease
Heart health is a huge problem in the UK, with cardiovascular disease accounting for around a quarter of all deaths every year. This includes conditions and diseases such as coronary heart disease, heart failure and strokes.
And according to the British Heart Foundation, around 7.6 million people in the UK are currently living with cardiovascular disease, with this number expected to rise.
If not caught early and treated, cardiovascular disease can prove fatal. Therefore, spotting any warning signs is vital.
Some of the signs of heart disease are fairly well known, such as chest pain. However, others are less so. According to one expert there are some more unexpected symptoms that could show up on the skin.
Dermatologist Dr Dustin Portela took to TikTok to warn of some all important "clues".
Speaking to his more than two million followers, he said: "Do you know that dermatologists are trained to look for clues on the skin to tell you if you have heart disease?
"Dermatologists are trained to look for the signs of internal disease that come out on your skin. Here's a few that might signal a risk or heart disease."
The three signs to be wary of are:
Dustin explained: "First up is swelling of the legs, particularly bilateral oedema."
Bilateral oedema means the swelling is affecting both limbs, such as both legs rather than just one.
"When you have swelling of the legs, it could be a sign of heart failure," he said.
According to the Mayo Clinic this occurs when the heart's lower chamber stop pumping blood as well.
The blood can "back up" in the legs, ankles and feet leading to oedema.
Dustin continued: "Next is called clubbing, a downward curve of the nail, while the fingertip gets swollen.
"This could be a sign of heart disease, of a heart infection or of lung disease."
If you are suffering from clubbing the nails may feel soft and sponge-like, and warm to the touch.
The Cleveland Clinic describes the nails as having a "rounded, bulging shape, giving the appearance of an upside-down spoon".
They might also look red and widen and wrap around the sides of your fingertips.
Dustin added: "And lastly it is something called Frank's sign, which is a diagonal crease in the earlobe that can be an indicator of heart disease."
However, he added: "But further studies have shown, is probably not that highly correlated and it's more just to do with age."
A case study published in the BMJ said that research has shown a "significant association" of Frank's sign with increased risks of ischaemic heart disease and heart attacks.
Top Heart Disease Treatment And Prevention Advancements In 2023
As 2023 comes to a close, cardiologists are reflecting on some of the advancements and breakthroughs in their field over the past 12 months.
Heart disease is a pressing issue in the United States. The American Heart Association reports that more than 130 million adults (about 45.1% of the population) will develop some form of cardiovascular disease by 2035, which will lead to $1.1 trillion in projected total costs.
This reality means researchers and clinicians are invested nationwide in developing better interventions and treatments to address the rising prevalence of heart disease among Americans.
To put in perspective how serious this is, heart disease stands as the leading cause of death regardless of gender and spans most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Heart disease kills one person for every 33-second interval nationwide.
Healthline spoke with several experts who weighed in on the major breakthroughs and innovations of the past year as well as promising developments on the horizon in 2024.
Dr. Joseph C. Wu, Ph.D., FAHA, American Heart Association president and director, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and Simon H. Stertzer Professor of Medicine & Radiology at Stanford School of Medicine, said that glucose-lowering drugs have been a game changer for people with type 2 diabetes, helping them to reduce cardiovascular events and improve their heart health.
Research is now suggesting these same drugs may also improve heart health in people with obesity who aren't also living with diabetes.
"In one trial of semaglutide, a medication shown to lower the risk of heart problems in people with diabetes and approved for long-term weight management, people with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and obesity fared better on the drug than on placebo," Wu said.
What is preserved ejection fraction?
Wu explained that this happens "when the heart muscle becomes thick and stiff and can't pump out enough blood to meet the body's needs."
"The semaglutide group had greater reductions in heart failure-related symptoms, greater improvements in the ability to exercise and greater weight loss," he added.
Wu also singled out a late-breaking trial of the GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) receptor agonist drug that was presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2023.
In that trial, researchers looked into whether semaglutide benefitted people who are living with overweight or obesity who did nothave diabetes, but who had cardiovascular disease.
The findings show that the drug was "superior to placebo in reducing cardiovascular-related death, nonfatal heart attacks, and nonfatal strokes," Wu told Healthline.
Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic, pointed to a different type 2 diabetes medication that he said is also a "blockbuster" — tirzepatide.
He cited findings released this year that showed thecardiovascular benefits of the dual-acting GIP and GLP-1 agonist, which was originally made available solely for diabetes under brand name Mounjaro, and was recently approved for weight loss and the treatment of obesity under the name Zepbound.
"We've had these drugs, but we didn't really know whether they'd have a favorable effect on cardiovascular outcomes on people who are being treated for obesity," he said.
The research conducted on this drug had a "very robust result," Nissen stressed.
It was shown to have a 20% reduction in body weight for people who were overweight, while showing clear, "promising hard endpoints" of lower risk of cardiovascular death, stroke, myocardial infraction, or heart attack.
"That's a big reduction, it's a turning point in the battle against obesity," he added.
Dr. Karol Watson, PhD, an attending cardiologist and a Professor of Medicine/Cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said all of the big 2023 developments in cardiovascular health center on preventive measures for lipid and hypertension management.
Watson, who is also the director of the UCLA Women's Cardiovascular Health Center, the UCLA-Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Health Program, the co-director of the UCLA Program in Preventive Cardiology, and director of the UCLA Fellowship Program in Cardiovascular Diseases, told Healthline that the big goal is "trying to figure out how to get people to take their medications in the least invasive way possible."
Watson said that, traditionally, you had daily pills people would take or injectables they would have to receive every two weeks. Today, there are more options.
"Now, there is data on the injectables people can do every every six months. Now, there are longer gaps [between injections]. The whole idea is one and done and doing something people will find easier for them. And, it works," Watson explained. "The problem is, these things are not going to be cheap."
The findings of the drug zilebesiran, which showed the potential to lower pressure with an injection every six months, were presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2023.
Watson added that this kind of injectable "makes it easy for people to get the medication they need." She reiterated a big problem persists.
"These [medications] are easy, you have one injection every six months," she said, "but they are not cheap. That is the problem."
Wu pointed back to the 2023 Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association, which offers a summary of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome. He said this is "an interconnection between obesity, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, which is linked to premature death and disability."
He said concretely pointing out this relationship is one of the big cardiovascular headlines of the year.
"The statement summarizes what is known about CKM syndrome and how to prevent and manage it. It highlights a new way to calculate risk of the syndrome, as well as gaps in knowledge and needed research," Wu added. "An accompanying Presidential Advisory helps define CKM syndrome and offers guidance on the prevention and treatment of the syndrome across different clinical and community settings."
Wu pointed to research on endovascular thrombectomy, a minimally invasive surgical procedure used to remove a stroke-causing blood clot from an artery in the brain, as another one of 2023's big stories.
This procedure restores blood flow and prevents further brain damage and disability. It's the standard form of treatment for either small or medium-sized strokes.
"Until now, it wasn't clear if endovascular thrombectomy would also benefit people with larger, more severe strokes, which account for up to one-fourth of all strokes.
In a study of people with severe strokes from China and in another trial of people in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, researchers found endovascular thrombectomy within 24 hours of a stroke was superior to standard medical care," Wu said.
This research showed that these individuals who received this treatment showed signs of experiencing fewer disabilities and "were more functionally independent during the three months after treatment."
He pointed to a third study of those treated for severe stroke in Europe and Canada who showed similar outcomes.
"Those who underwent endovascular thrombectomy were more functionally independent than those who had standard medical treatment, alone. This study also showed that thrombectomy patients were less likely to die," Wu added.
What do these experts see in the year to come? All three cited innovations in gene editing.
Watson said "we are starting to see the era of gene editing."
She pointed to research out of New Zealand that shows, for the first time, gene editing technology can reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL).
"What we've seen in the small group of the principle study, what we've seen in these first 10 patients, is that [we saw] durable LDL reduction, but of the 10 patients, two of them had very serious adverse events — one died and one had a heart attack, so the questions of safety will always persist," she added.
Watson and Wu said that, even more promising, is the FDA approval of a cure for sickle cell disease that harnessed the same CRISPR gene-editing technology. The approval of Casgevy is a major breakthrough — the first medicine that utilizes CRISPR to receive U.S. Approval, according to NBC News.
Nissen pointed to the number of drugs in development for treating lipoprotein (a), or Lp(a), as a development to keep front and center for the coming year. He said "this is a condition, which is a heart disease risk factor in 20 percent of the population that has never been treatable."
Now, what is known as RNAi, or RNA interference, is being utilized to reduce Lp(a). Nissen said he and his team have published several articles on these new therapies, and one of them involves a clinical trial for a drug called pelacarsen, which he is chairing.
This study has enrolled 8,300 patients and "is now well along toward completion," he said.
"If successful, it will be the first time ever that we can treat this disorder, everyone is waiting for the results of the trial," he said.
Additionally, beyond these innovations, Wu said he's excited about the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which opens the door for moving beyond mandatory animal testing and toward a new era of using stem cells, organoids, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in computer models for drug discovery.
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