What is takotsubo cardiomyopathy? Takotsubo cardiomyopathy — “broken heart syndrome” — is a temporary, stress-triggered weakening of the heart muscle that mimics a heart attack but occurs with normal coronary arteries. It’s usually triggered by intense emotional or physical stress, is more common in post-menopausal women, and most people recover fully within a couple of […]

Does stress affect the heart? Yes — psychological stress can trigger genuine physical symptoms, and in some cases measurable heart problems. This post looks at how stress shows up in patients, and when it’s worth taking seriously. Whenever I go on holiday I always seem to find myself frantically trying to tidy up loose ends […]

Some genetic conditions are caused by mutations in single genes, and clearly run in families. Others are more complex, with environmental factors influencing the behaviour of genes and modifying what is called the gene expression. There are many such factors, smoking, diet, alcohol to name a few common ones. Most people I expect have heard […]

I have had quite a few patients ask me recently if I would support them being prescribed semaglutide. You may not be familiar with the name, but you may well have heard of it as a weight loss wonder drug. The reason I thought I would write about it today is that the FDA (US […]

I’ve been on call this week and it’s been rather busy, particularly this weekend, and particularly with patients presenting to hospital with chest pain. Such patients usually have a blood test called a ‘troponin’, which is a blood enzyme which gets elevated in the context of any heart damage or inflammation. As such, we use […]

I have had quite a few questions from members about last week’s article on sleep, so thought I would answer them this week. Many questions related to whether it mattered if sleep length varied. My first comment then is that the sleep duration quoted in trials and so on are averages. We will all have […]

Quick answer: Most adults do best on around 7–8 hours of sleep a night. Both too little (under 7 hours) and too much (over 9 hours) have been linked to higher cardiovascular risk in research studies — and quality matters as much as quantity: being sedated (for example, by alcohol) is not the same as […]

My video last week was about insulin resistance and fat accumulation in abdominal organs. Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and diabetes is a ticking timebomb the world is ill-prepared for, and readers will know my thoughts about lifestyle modifications that can help prevent these issues. However, I thought I would expand a little on this, as […]

I’ve been into gadgets since I was a child. The complexity of what’s available now would have delighted and amazed my 12 year old self. The amount of data we can have at our disposal is really incredible. Health ‘wearables’ in particular, can be really insightful. I use my apple watch daily for a number […]

What is cardiac amyloid? Cardiac amyloid is a build-up of misfolded protein in the heart muscle that makes it thick and stiff, causing breathlessness, swollen ankles, and heart rhythm problems. It’s more common than previously thought, and one form is inherited. Diagnosis is usually via echocardiogram, MRI or a specialist bone scan, and several effective […]

I’ve been rather fortunate to have only ever been to 2 funerals previously, and the last of those was over 20 years ago. My third came last week, and was that of my Dad’s best friend. I’ve known him over 40 years myself. It’s easy to speak highly of the dead, but Mark really was […]

I’m on day 7 of a week on call today, so will be glad when I can turn my phone off overnight tomorrow! It has been moderately busy, with some very interesting cases. The most worrying of these from a selfish perspective was the patient my age with a heart attack. If they had lots […]

I hope you have had a good start to 2024. I’ve had a great week, as my shoulder has been improving faster than I thought with physio, and I even managed 5 holes of golf yesterday with my son (playing with him is one of my all-time favourite things to do, and maybe I should […]

Welcome to my last heart research blog of the year! As is commonplace for this time of year, I thought a good way to round things off would be to highlight the most interesting research papers I have come across in 2023, and add a few key ‘take home’ messages. We are lucky in cardiology […]

Quick answer: Tom Lockyer’s on-pitch cardiac arrest is a reminder that pre-season cardiac screening for athletes, while valuable, doesn’t catch every risk — cardiac arrests in athletes remain rare and exercise itself is still overwhelmingly beneficial. The single most useful thing anyone can do is learn CPR, since fast resuscitation is what actually saves lives […]

I had fully intended to write today’s blog post in advance, because I’m currently away skiing. You know how it is though, trying to tie up loose ends before a holiday, particularly one the week before Christmas (on the plus side – we have had to be super-organised on that front!). Nevermind, best laid plans […]

What is atrial fibrillation and how is it treated? Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular heart rhythm affecting around 6% of people in their late 60s, rising to 20% by age 80. Its main danger is stroke risk, managed with blood-thinning medication, and symptoms are treated with rhythm-control drugs, ablation, or occasionally a pacemaker depending […]

Quick answer: Ectopic heart beats — extra beats that start from the wrong place in the heart — are one of the commonest causes of palpitations, and most people experience them at some point. They’re usually triggered by things like stress, alcohol, caffeine or dehydration, and in most cases are harmless, though it’s still worth […]

I hope you have had a good week. Mine has been another super-busy one, with another conference in London. This week was the British Society for Heart Failure annual meeting. Rather than a video this week, I thought I would write so as to get some of the statistics I learnt down in black and […]

Over the last couple of weeks I have written about the sorts of questions doctors consider when it comes to palpitations, and the tests we do to investigate them. This week, I’ll talk about some of the causes. Clearly this is a big topic, so to split it up, I’ll divide them by the area […]

Last week, I wrote about palpitations, and the sorts of questions a Cardiologist will ask to try and determine the cause. This week, I will cover how we investigate palpitations with medical tests, before moving on next week to discuss the different heart rhythm issues specifically. The commonest test is an electrocardiogram, or ECG. This […]

What should I tell my doctor about palpitations? The details matter: how they start and stop, whether there’s a trigger, how fast and regular they feel, and whether you’ve ever passed out. Answers to these questions can often point to a diagnosis before any tests are done — this post lists the exact questions I […]

Quick answer: Around 5 million UK adults have undiagnosed high blood pressure. Normal is under 120/80; hypertension is 140/90 or above. Lifestyle changes are first-line treatment, with medication added when needed — and it’s one of the most treatable risk factors for heart disease we have. What is high blood pressure? So what is blood […]

Quick answer: Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s cardiology team — of which I’m part — is one of the first in the UK to trial a new implantable device for heart failure patients. It continuously monitors blood flow to the heart and alerts patients and doctors to a concerning pattern before symptoms develop, aiming to catch problems […]