Search

Statins and what they do

Statins are medicines that help lower your cholesterol and protect your arteries. Understand what statins do, and are used for, the pros and cons, their side effects and potential alternatives.

RESEARCH

Studying why sleep breathing disorders can lead to atrial fibrillation

University of Birmingham | Professor Dr Paulus Kirchhof

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia), sending the top chambers of the heart (the atria) into spasm. AF is dangerous because it significantly increases the likelihood of stroke, so finding e...

RESEARCH

What keeps mitochondria healthy in the heart?

King's College London | Professor Ajay Shah

BHF Professor Ajay Shah and his team at Kings College London are studying whether manipulating a stress pathway in the mitochondria of heart muscle cells could help treat heart disease. Mitochondria are ‘powerhouses’ within cells that gene...

RESEARCH

Preventing blood vessel narrowing after vein grafting

University of Bristol | Professor Sarah Jane George

The build-up of fatty deposits in arteries causes narrowing of blood vessels, restricted blood flow and deprivation of oxygen, leading to heart and circulatory diseases. Conventional treatment for the narrowing of arteries is to implant a s...

RESEARCH

Improving treatments for atrial fibrillation

Queen Mary, University of London | Dr Ross Hunter

Dr Ross Hunter and his team at Queen Mary, University of London are working out how changes in heart muscle lead to atrial fibrillation (AF) and if a new technique could improve treatments. AF is the most common abnormal heart rhythm, wher...

RESEARCH

Helping to equip researchers with a more efficient tool to measure how living heart muscle cells contract

Imperial College London | Professor Sian Harding

Live heart muscle cells are an invaluable tool for studying how disease affects the heart’s ability to contract. However, the traditional way of studying these cells using video tracking technology is slow because only one cell can be studi...

RESEARCH

Providing support for injured hearts

Brunel University London | Professor Ashraf William Khir

Dr Ashraf Khir from Brunel University and Professor John Pepper, from the Royal Brompton hospital (Imperial College London), are investigating how to improve an important piece of equipment used to treat heart patients, called an intra-aort...