Home / Critical illness cover / - Coronary artery by-pass surgery
Background information
Every year there are an estimated 280,000 heart attacks in the UK - that's one every 2 minutes.
Less than half of those who have a heart attack die within 28 days.
Coronary Heart Disease is the most common cause of premature death.
About 28,000 coronary artery by-pass grafts are carried out each year - a 5-fold increase since 1980.
The number of coronary angioplasties has also increased, with 14,000 now being carried out annually.
Around 2.6 million people are currently suffering from coronary heart disease.
(British Heart Foundation, 2002)
In 2000, over 120,000 people died from coronary heart disease. That's around 330 deaths every day.
(Office for National Statistics, 2001)
Studies have indicated that two-thirds of men suffering their first heart attack will survive for a minimum of 5 years.
( Munich Re, 2002)
Definition
The undergoing of open heart surgery on the advice of a Consultant Cardiologist to correct narrowing or blockage of one or more coronary arteries with by-pass grafts but excluding balloon angioplasty, laser relief or any other procedures.
What does this mean?
If one or more of the coronary arteries, which supply oxygenated blood to the heart, becomes obstructed by the build up of fatty deposits angina can result and can even cause a heart attack. A coronary by-pass operation involves inserting a short length of vein, usually taken from the leg, around the narrowed artery thus restoring an adequate supply of blood to the heart.
17 June 2008 17:20:44
Shares of a drug making company have risen dramatically after they announced the successful trial of an experimental Alzheimer's treatment, Bloomberg has reported.
Elan Corp's shares rose to the highest level in three years and Wyeth jumped 4.8 per cent in New York trading after declaring results of tests for their bapineuzumab drug.
The tests should that bapineuzumab could increase the cognitive ability of patients who carry a gene tied to as many as 70 percent of Alzheimers cases.
Talking about the trials which did not benefit those with the ApoE4 gene, Ian Hunter, Goodbody stockbrokers analyst, said: "This set of data is much better than we expected, given the strong response observed in non-ApoE4 carriers.'
Bapineuzumab, a man-made antibody, works by removing protein deposits from the brain of affected patients.
Further tests are required to get the drug to the final stage of regulatory approval as it failed to meet the main goal of the initial trial.
Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia and is a degenerative and terminal disease for which there is currently no known cure.
06 July 2007 12:03:24
GPs and patients must cooperate in order to lower the amount of heart attacks in the UK, according to the British Heart Foundation.
The charity said that doctors and patients should work together to identify the risks of heart disease and to enact methods to prevent its development.
The comments followed the publication of new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which encouraged GPs to be proactive in identifying patients with high risk factors and to offer them treatment and advice.
Judy O'Sullivan, a spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation, said that the responsibility for dealing with heart disease was shared between doctor and patient.
"It's a two-way thing really. I don't think you can say that it's a health professional's responsibility or its Joe Public's responsibility.
"I think it should be done in partnership where the experts provide information and enter into discussion with the patient and say: 'this is the situation, this is what we can do for you, how do you feel about that, what do you want?'
"And then the patient makes the decision based on that information and that dialogue."
04 April 2008 17:36:09
Young children who lead inactive lifestyles are five-to-six times more likely to have a serious risk of developing heart disease, which could affect them as early as their teenage years, researchers have claimed.
Academics at the University of North Carolina studied a group of more than 400 children while they were at primary school and again seven years later to examine the effects of metabolic syndrome, which can increase risks of heart disease and diabetes - conditions which may influence life insurance policies.
Researchers measured factors such as height, body mass, percentage body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Participants were also surveyed about their physical activity and given an aerobic fitness test.
Robert McMurray, professor of exercise and sports science at the university, said adolescents with the syndrome were six times more likely to have had low aerobic fitness as children and five times more likely to have low levels of physical activity at the time they joined the study.
The government has recently launched a £372 million strategy to encourage children and adults to live healthier lives.
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