My neighbor Ed was a thin man all his life. He maintained an ideal body weight by combining regular physical activity with a modest intake of calories. He was a “young” seventy year-old who looked the picture of heart health. Ed regularly read the newspaper while walking on his treadmill, he hit a golf ball […]
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Grand Rounds is up…
This week’s edition of medical Grand Rounds is hosted by the famous Dr Val Jones, owner, operator and CEO of Better Health, a website that features a network of health bloggers. Better Health is well known for its curation of  “Smart Health” commentary. At first glance it looks like this week’s contributors have brought their […]
Today, I would like to tell you about the most effective way to treat the most common heart ailment, atrial fibrillation (AF). It’s not the novel anticoagulant drugs. Though it’s obvious that having stroke prevention options other than warfarin represents a significant advance. It’s not burning the left atrium with an ablation catheter. Though it’s […]
The practice of Medicine has its ups and downs. Little about doctoring could be called steady, or controlled. There are cycles. Sometimes, the negatives congeal together and even the most upbeat doctor tilts a little low. But here’s the best part: patients nearly always cheer you up. It’s why I love the job so much. […]
In Washington, even exercise gets political. This morning, the WSJ reported that a small group of Congressmen, primarily Republicans, have embraced the adrenaline-infused exercise regimen that is P90X. They jump, stretch and flex to the tune of Tony Horton, a man who clearly checked the right box on career day. The 90-day results-intensive program celebrates […]
About a year ago I wrote about the inflammation of business travel. My first-hand experience helped me understand why so many middle-aged jet-setters turn up with heart rhythm problems. Basically, I found out that life on the road serves up stress. Yesterday, I met business travel’s first cousin: taking your child to an over-scheduled all-day […]
In the better-late-than-never category comes my shout out for World Kidney Day, which was yesterday. I love their slogan: “Protect your Kidneys, Save your Heart.” As an organ, the kidneys are a lot like offensive lineman in football; they do all the hard work but remain mostly anonymous. They sit motionless in the back of […]
As a bike-racing heart doctor who practices in one of America’s least healthy states, it pains me to say anything against exercise. I spend a great deal of my typical office day cajoling Kentuckians to exercise more. Sometimes, I even prescribe daily exercise rather than a medicine! “It’s OK to exercise every day that you […]
This week’s edition of Grand Rounds was hosted by Dr Ed Pullen, a family medicine doctor from Washington state who maintains a highly informational medical blog at www.drpullen.com. As is the usual case for Grand Rounds, there are many great posts that I look forward to reading in more detail this week. I am honored that yours truly […]
I was recently asked a seemingly simple question about differences in how women with atrial fibrillation (AF) are treated. The questioner was referring to this large AF-ablation study published a year ago in the Heart Rhythm Journal. Researchers at St David’s Hospital in Austin, TX reported striking differences in the outcomes and complications of more […]
It’s heart-wrenching when young athletes die of sudden cardiac death (SCD). This week, the death of Wes Leonard, a Michigan high school star athlete, was especially poignant since he collapsed right after hitting the game-winning shot. This sort of tragedy occurs about one hundred times each year in America. That’s a lot of sadness. The […]