Problems with the body's main pipeline for blood often overlooked, misdiagnosed.

One afternoon in May 2010, a gigantic pipe burst just outside of Boston. The break cut off the supply of clean drinking water to Boston and 29 surrounding communities and spewed millions of gallons of water a day into the Charles River. That's essentially what happens when a weak spot in the aorta, the main pipeline for blood from the heart to the body, suddenly bursts, cutting off the supply of life-sustaining blood and flooding the chest or abdomen with blood.

Such ruptures aren't uncommon events. Several hundred thousand ...

Beef, pork and other red meats are okay for the heart, but not hot dogs, cold cuts, and other processed meat.

Many people who try to follow a healthful diet eat red meat with a side order of guilt. A study suggests that eating beef, lamb, pork, and other red meat is okay for your heart and arteries as long as it hasn't been smoked, cured, salted, or otherwise preserved. But go easy on processed meats like bacon, cold cuts, and hot dogs.

Dietitian Renata Micha and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health gathered information from 20 completed ...

Trouble arises when the heart can't properly relax.

Relaxation is every bit as important for your heart as it is for the rest of you. If for some reason the heart has trouble relaxing between beats, then it can't fill completely. Less blood pumped with each contraction sets the stage for a "new" type of heart failure that goes by many names: diastolic heart failure, heart failure with normal ejection fraction, heart failure with preserved systolic function, and others.

Diastolic heart failure isn't really new. It's just that doctors now have tools that let them see how this form of ...

Getting a stent implanted within six weeks before having another, noncardiac surgery carries a much higher risk of having a heart attack or dying.

People with diabetes who take blood sugar readings at home now have a way to convert that information into a hemoglobin A1c value, which indicates a person's average daily blood sugar.

Among the side effects of steroid use, one serious consequence is a weakening of the heart's left ventricle.

Eating moderate amounts of nuts and chocolate may being heart-protective benefits in the form of lower LDL cholesterol and lower blood pressure, respectively.

Having a defibrillator implanted does not preclude exercising.

Brief reports on an interaction between warfarin and a particular antibiotic prescribed for urinary tract infections, and outdoor exercise as a mood booster.

I had a nuclear exercise test last fall, and it was perfectly normal. Imagine my surprise this spring when I developed burning chest pain that turned out to be a heart attack on the bottom part of my heart. Did the doctors mess up the reading of my test?

I have tried all of the statin drugs to lower my cholesterol, but each one has caused severe muscle pain. Are there any non-statin medications I could try using to lower my cholesterol?