I am an 82-year-old man with borderline leakage in my mitral valve. Your article on mitral valve prolapse said, “The operation to repair or replace a leaky mitral valve is big enough that you don’t want to undergo it unnecessarily, but important enough that you don’t want to wait until symptoms develop.” What symptoms or tests would help me and others recognize when it is time to consider having the valve fixed?

An acid blocker or antacid may be a better choice for Plavix users.

Some drugs work together, complementing or backing up each other. Others compete or get in each other's way. Aspirin and clopidogrel (Plavix) make a good tag team, combining to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Add a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) to the mix, though, and it may limit, or even knock out, the prevention provided by Plavix. That's a problem because millions of people take aspirin and Plavix, and many of them are urged to take a PPI to limit the stomach upset or gastrointestinal bleeding that ...

Popular treatment for preventing stroke hasn't been proven.

The most common type of stroke, ischemic stroke, occurs when a clot blocks blood flow to part of the brain. Doctors can often tell what caused the clot to form. Ischemic strokes with a more mysterious origin are called cryptogenic strokes. One possible cause of a cryptogenic stroke is a hole in the wall separating the heart's right atrium from the left. Whether fixing this opening prevents such strokes has yet to be determined.

Before birth, a baby gets oxygen from its mother through the placenta. In the fetal heart, blood ...

Plug into the power of produce to keep your heart and the rest of you healthy.

Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is a cornerstone of good health. It helps control blood pressure and cholesterol, keeps arteries flexible, protects bones, and is good for the eyes, brain, digestive system, and just about every other part of the body. But many of us have trouble putting that knowledge into practice and getting five or more (emphasis on the "more") servings a day.

One big barrier to tapping into the power of produce is the perception that fruits and vegetables are ...

Why fainting happens, and how to nip it in the bud.

Faint, black out, swoon, pass out. They're all names for the same thing — a temporary loss of consciousness followed by a fairly rapid and complete recovery. It's frightening when it comes out of the blue, more so when it happens again and again. The technical term, syncope (SIN-kuh-pee), comes from a Greek word that means to cut short or interrupt. What's being interrupted is blood flow to the brain.

Key points Fainting occurs when something interrupts blood flow to the brain. Although usually harmless, fainting can cause ...

Read More »

Readers suggest alternative terms for a transient ischemic attack.

Everyone wants to live longer, and there are many preventable causes of death that can be avoided with proper health habits.

When someone has a stroke, immediate treatment is essential. The American Stroke Association says a clot-destroying drug called tPA may work for up to four and a half hours after the onset of a stroke, but should be given within an hour if possible.

Brief reports on CPR and an improved cardiac arrest survival rate, chewable aspirin as a rapid heart attack aid, and the effect of lack of sleep on blood pressure.

Ask the doctor Are isometric exercises safe for the heart? Q. Long ago I was told that isometric exercises, like weight lifting, shouldn't be done by anyone with a heart condition. Is that still the prevailing wisdom?

A. Isometric exercises are those in which a muscle tenses but doesn't contract. Clasping your hands together and pushing or lifting free weights are examples of isometric exercises. Physicians once discouraged people with heart disease from doing predominantly isometric exercises, like weight lifting and other resistance exercises, in part because they can lead to temporary but dramatic increases in blood pressure. Lifting weights ...

What are silent heart attacks? How are they different from regular ones? If they are silent, how does anyone know about them?

I work out regularly six times a week, but suffer from exercise-induced angina and what my doctor calls a vascular problem. If I start exercising without first warming up, my chest starts to feel “tight” before I’ve walked 100 yards. The same thing happens if I start walking after being seated for a while, such as when I walk to the baggage claim area to get my luggage after getting off a plane. If I warm up properly, though, I can walk for several miles at a pretty fast pace without any chest pain. Can you explain what is going on?