Cocaine abusers get more heart aneurysms.Regular cocaine users are about four times as likely as nonusers are to have an aneurysm aneurysm (ăn`y  rĭzəm), localized dilatation of a blood vessel, particularly an artery, or the heart. in a coronary artery coronary arteryn. 1. An artery with origin in the right aortic sinus; with distribution to the right side of the heart in the coronary sulcus, and with branches to the right atrium and ventricle, including the atrioventricular branches and , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a new study. The finding could explain in part why cocaine users have a heightened risk of heart attack, says cardiologist Timothy D. Henry of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. An aneurysm is an abnormal bulge in a blood vessel blood vessel n. An elastic tubular channel, such as an artery, a vein, a sinus, or a capillary, through which the blood circulates. blood vessel(s), n the network of muscular tubes that carry blood. . Although coronary-artery aneurysms seldom rupture, they interfere with blood flow and might cause dangerous clots, Henry says. He and his colleagues matched 112 cocaine users with 79 nonusers. All the participants, average age 44, were in a hospital because they had had a heart attack, chest pain, abnormal heart rhythm, or some other cardiac problem for which their doctors prescribed a test of coronary-blood flow. Most of the cocaine users, who also were more likely than nonusers to smoke, took the drug weekly. The tests showed that more than 30 percent of the cocaine users had a coronary aneurysm, but only about 8 percent of the nonusers had one, the researchers report in the May 17 Circulation. Henry says that in his medical practice apart from the current study, he has found people with coronary aneurysms who don't currently use cocaine but did so years earlier. He conjectures that the condition could stem from cocaine's constricting con·strict v. con·strict·ed, con·strict·ing, con·stricts v.tr. 1. To make smaller or narrower by binding or squeezing. 2. To squeeze or compress. 3. effect on blood vessels Blood vessels Tubular channels for blood transport, of which there are three principal types: arteries, capillaries, and veins. Only the larger arteries and veins in the body bear distinct names. , which hikes blood pressure. Over time, these stresses might lead to the formation of coronary aneurysms, he says.--N.S. |
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