Heart surgery, congenital problems, and, more

A review of the surgical options for mitral stenosis.

Readers provide their nominees for the most overblown health news stories of the past decade.

Tears over the demise of primary care medicine are greatly overblown.

We have successfully demonized obesity, and the obese, during the past decade.

The mad cow disease panic was overblown

We have seen an explosion of epidemics this past decade, most of them man-made due to a change in the definition of various disorders.

Contrary to what we are being told, preventive medical services do not always save money.

Emergency room overcrowding is actually not caused by the uninsured, but by insured people who have cannot find primary care doctors.

The claim that healthcare reform will lead to rationing reveals a sad lack of understanding, since covert rationing is already the central organizing fact of our healthcare system.

Health insurance companies not only aren't against healthcare reform, they are depending on it.

There no objective evidence that vaccines produce autism

As you may have noticed, the decade now drawing to a close has featured more than a few health-related news stories that have seemed just a tad overblown. Here are a few of these stories, arbitrarily selected and in no particular order, for your consideration and amusement.

Patent foramen ovale - diagnosis or incidental finding?

The cardiac effects of thyroid disease.

Mary Shomon's Living Well With Graves' Disease and Hyperthyroidism

Overview of cardiac sarcoidosis

Crystal meth and heart disease

A discussion of HIV and heart disease

Cosmetic surgery and the heart

Heroin and the heart

Preventing aortic aneurysms

A discussion of the two approaches to repairing aortic aneurysm

Costochondritis - a common cause of chest pain

John Ritter's aortic dissection

Symptoms of peripheral artery disease

Signs of ruptured aortic aneurysm

Treating aortic aneurysm

Coenzyme Q 10 and the heart

Here is a discussion of the causes of pulmonary hypertension.

An artery is a blood vessel that carries oxygen-rich blood away from the heart, and delivers it to the body's tissues.

The aorta is the main artery of the body.

An aneurysm is a localized, balloon-like dilation of a blood vessel.

In peripheral artery disease, PAD, blood vessels in an arm or a leg has become blocked, and lead to symptoms or danger to the limb.

Subclavian steal syndrome is a type of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in which blockage in the subclavian artery can cause stroke-like symptoms.

Peripheral artery disease can be treated medically, or invasively using angioplasty or bypass surgery.

A stroke is caused by permanent damage to a portion of the brain. Here is what you should know.

A transient ischemic attack (TIA), or mini-stroke, often heralds a full stroke. Here is what you need to know.

Mitochondria are tiny structures within cells that provide the energy the cell needs to perform its functions.

Edema is swelling in the body's tissues, usually caused by an accumulation of fluid, and is a common symptom in heart failure.

Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (PND) is dyspnea (shortness of breath) that awakens you from sleep.

Orthopnea is dyspnea (shortness of breath) that occurs while lying down.

Dyspnea is another name for shortness of breath or breathlessness, and is often a symptom of cardiac problems.

The Valsalva maneuver is a technique for transiently increasing the tone of the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerves help control the muscles of the throat and the voicebox, regulate the heart rate and keep the gastrointestinal tract in working order.

Fibrosis is a deposit of excess fibrous tissue in an organ.

Fibrin is the end result of the activation of the clotting factors. It binds and solidifies platelet plugs to form stable blood clots.

The clotting factors are blood proteins that help the blood to clot.

Compression ultrasound test used to diagnose deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Impedance plethysmography is a test for diagnosing deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

In deep venous thrombosis - DVT - blood clots form in the deeper veins of the legs.

Pulmonary infarction is the death of a portion of lung tissue.

A collection of fluid in the lung cavity is called a pleural effusion.

When blood is pumped out of the right ventricle, it enters the pulmonary artery.

A blood clot that travels to the pulmonary artery and becomes lodged there is called a pulmonary embolus.