Heart Attack

When patients are in the throes of a heart attack, there's no question that stents save lives. But for heart patients with few symptoms and less than severe artery blockage, whether to use a stent is a question with no clear-cut answer, say cardiologists. In fact, these days some heart experts say the mesh metal tubes used to keep narrowed or weakened arteries propped open are overused for blockages that can be treated just as well with medicine, a healthy diet and exercise. A recent internal review of heart patients at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson found 369 patients received the coronary implants unnecessarily.

If you suffer from pain in the legs, sores on the feet or burning sensations in the toes you may have a condition called  Peripheral Vascular Disease. The condition affects about 10 million people in the United States. Johns Hopkins doctors will offer free screenings for the disease 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Towson Town Center Mall. The screenings will take place in the Grand Court on level 1.   Untreated PVD can cause debilitating pain, swelling, poor wound healing, heart attack or even stroke.  Dr. Mark Lessne , Johns Hopkins Vascular and Interventional Radiologist, will be on hand to answers questions about the disease.

Five days after suffering what his doctor called a mild heart attack Sunday, Salisbury coach Jim Berkman has only the tender area on his leg where a catheter was inserted as physical evidence of that procedure. “I feel all right,” Berkman, 52, said Friday morning from his home. “Actually, I'm a little antsy here. I'm not a guy who can sit around a whole lot. So I'm kind of getting stir-crazy right now.” The NCAA's all-time winningest coach with 395 victories, Berkman has not been allowed to return to the top-ranked Sea Gulls, who have captured nine national championships, including last year's title, under Berkman.

Wednesday night, Salisbury's Jim Berkman became the first college men's lacrosse coach to amass 400 victories in a career after his team trounced Mary Washington, 16-8. Berkman, who is 400-42 in 25 years, is understandably honored at the accomplishment, but he is even happier to celebrate a clean bill of health. Berkman suffered a mild heart attack while working out at his gym March 11. After having two stents inserted to remove a blockage in one of the arteries, he was permitted to return to the top-ranked and reigning national champion Sea Gulls eight days later.

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio underwent surgery early Sunday morning after suffering from symptoms consistent with a heart attack. The school released a statement Sunday saying Dantonio was admitted to Sparrow Hospital and doctors performed a cardiac catheterization procedure, in which a small, metallic stent is used to open a blocked blood vessel leading to the heart. "The procedure was successful and blood flow to the heart muscle was restored," said Dr. Chris D'Haem through the school.

Mike Smith appeared dazed in the moments after his horse, Bodemeister, was again beaten by Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another - this time by a neck in Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course . The veteran jockey wore the frozen smile of a man hardly able to fathom what had just transpired. "I swear I don't know how he ran me down, man," Smith said after trainer Bob Baffert approached in the fading sunlight. "You did a good job," the 59-year-old trainer told the 46-year-old jockey, a fellow Hall of Famer and former Preakness winner who recently passed 5,000 career victories.

For two days in July, Marcelette Lee thought she was coming down with the flu. When she started vomiting, she headed to her doctor's office. By the time she arrived, she was short of breath. It turned out she was having a heart attack and needed triple-bypass surgery. In the six months since, Lee, 54, of Randallstown, has been taking medication, exercising and watching what she eats. She said those efforts have been focused on more than increasing her time on the treadmill or lowering her cholesterol levels.

Howard County ambulances are using a new communications system that enables some heart attack victims to get faster, better treatment when they arrive at Howard County General Hospital. Patients experiencing a STEMI — or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, which threatens the heart muscle and requires a balloon angioplasty and a stent to keep an artery open — would benefit from the new technology, officials said. The American Heart Association says 400,000 people suffer STEMI heart attacks each year in the United States.

Q: We read it's essential to get immediate medical attention at the first sign of a heart attack. It would be easier to follow this advice if I knew what to expect if I have a heart attack.A: A heart attack or myocardial infarction occurs when one of the blood vessels to the heart (coronary arteries) becomes completely blocked. Many heart attack victims have a history of chest pain (angina) that may worsen or occur more often in days before an attack. Others have ill-defined warning symptoms, or experience a heart attack suddenly, without any premonition.

NEW YORK -- Arthur Ashe was hospitalized because of a mil heart attack Thursday night, but he seemed to be taking his latest medical setback in stride."

Five days after suffering what his doctor called a mild heart attack Sunday, Salisbury coach Jim Berkman has only the tender area on his leg where a catheter was inserted as physical evidence of that procedure. “I feel all right,” Berkman, 52, said Friday morning from his home. “Actually, I'm a little antsy here. I'm not a guy who can sit around a whole lot. So I'm kind of getting stir-crazy right now.” The NCAA's all-time winningest coach with 395 victories, Berkman has not been allowed to return to the top-ranked Sea Gulls, who have captured nine national championships, including last year's title, under Berkman.

Erik Compton can't shake this nagging foot problem. A plantar wart took hold toward the end of last year, growing to the point where he couldn't ignore it anymore. With the new PGA Tour season approaching, Compton finally saw a doctor last month to have it cut out — but now it hasn't healed properly. "It actually hurts more than before," he groused. For Compton, this is little more than annoyance. Considering all the recipient of two heart transplants has endured to finally stand on the brink of his rookie debut at the Sony Open, a little hole in his foot isn't going to get in the way. "It's the opportunity to play, to really chase a dream that I've had to win on the (PGA)

Theodore E. "Ted" Thormann Jr., a longtime popular Calvert Hall College High School math teacher, died Nov. 23 of a heart attack at the Towson private school. He was 62 and a resident of Towson's Campus Hills neighborhood. Mr. Thormann, who had heart bypass surgery several years ago, regularly exercised and rode his bicycle. He often would return to school in the evening and work out in the gym or walk the halls for exercise. He went to Calvert Hall on the evening of Nov. 22, and when he did not return home, his wife of 17 years, the former Janice Flynn, a lawyer with the Public Service Commission, became alarmed and called Baltimore County police.

William J. "Bill" Obrigkeit, a banker and noted dressage rider, died Sept. 10 of a massive heart attack at Inova Loudoun Hospital in Leesburg, Va. He was 54. The Phoenix, Baltimore County, resident had just completed two dressage competitions in Leesburg when he was stricken with the fatal heart attack. Born in Baltimore and raised in Carney, Mr. Obrigkeit was a 1974 graduate of Parkville High School. Mr. Obrigkeit, who began riding at 14 when he purchased his first horse, was a 1975 graduate of Meredith Manor, an equestrian school in Waverly, W.Va., where he had earned a master's certificate.

The Mason Dixon Fair is the essence of community. Over the past 13 years, what used to be the non-descript Delta Carnival has blossomed into a centerpiece of enjoyment and pride that further ties some of the northern Harford County communities with those in the Delta, Pa., area. "It's very nice," Dawn Lupica, of Fallston, said about the fair in a story by Kayla Bawroski published Friday in The Aegis. "It feels very country and down home. " Those are the words fair organizers have to be pleased to hear because that's pretty much its intent.

A new study led by a Johns Hopkins researcher says the popular anti-smoking drug Chantix significantly increases the risk for a heart attack or other serious heart problem in healthy, middle-aged smokers. Dr. Sonal Singh, the study's lead author, is calling for warnings on the drug to be stronger than those currently required by the Food and Drug Administration. "People want to quit smoking to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but in this case they're taking a drug that increases the risk for the very problems they're trying to avoid," said Singh, an assistant professor of general internal medicine.

Jack Kramp, the veteran Anne Arundel Umpires Association chief, suffered a heart attack Wednesday night, but is resting comfortably in the coronary unit at North Arundel Hospital.Kramp, who turns 37 on Monday, has had a history of back problems preventing him from umpiring, but no prior heart problems. He said he experienced his heart attack upon arriving at the hospital.L "I was having back spasms and got one real bad," said Kramp."After taking my pulse a couple times and getting nothing, my heart started to flutter, and I decided to go to North Arundel.

Katherine Sancuk's No Brakes rallied from next to last to win $25,000 Deputed Testamony Starter Handicap, the first of nine stakes on Preakness Day. Xavier Perez rode the 6-year-old gelding, who finished fifth in the race last year and was claimed for $5,000 by his present connections in March, pulled ahead near the 16th marker and narrowly beat Money For Love to the finish. "I claimed this horse specifically for this race," said Sancuk, the owner and trainer. "He runs hard every time.