|
On December 23, five years ago, I was Christmas shopping when I received an emergency call from my ex-wife. She said, "Richard, come home quick, Wade's dying." I jumped in my car and drove home as fast as I could. I found my 12-year old son lying on the patio. He'd been inhaling air freshener, and he'd collapsed. When the paramedics arrived, we worked on him for an hour and a half, en route to the hospital and at the hospital. He'd suffered a cardiac arrest. When we stopped CPR on my son and I watched the monitor go flat, I was devastated.
Source: Drugstory.org
|
|
Researchers have found a connection between the abuse of most drugs and adverse cardiovascular effects, ranging from abnormal heart rate to heart attacks. Injection drug use can also lead to cardiovascular problems such as collapsed veins and bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves.
| Drugs that can effect the cardiovascular system: |
 |
| Selected Research Findings on Cardiovascular Effects of Drugs of Abuse |
|
Relation of Coronary Artery Calcium to Left Ventricular Mass in African-Americans
Both coronary artery calcium (CAC) deposits and increased ventricular (LV) mass are important risk factors for coronary heart disease, but the relation between these two factors has rarely been studied. The investigators (Dr. Shenghan Lai and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins) examined the correlation of coronary artery calcium and left ventricular mass in 159 young to middle-aged African-Americans, and found that the average left ventricular mass indices were bigger in the CAC-positive groups than in CAC-negative groups in both genders [p=0.0004 in men and p=0.08 in women]. Studies are in progress to examine if drug abuse (e.g., cocaine) has an impact on cardiovascular disease (coronary artery calcium/ventricular function) in African-Americans. Tong, W., Lima, J.A., Lai, H., Celentano, D.D., Dai, S. and Lai, S. Am J. Cardiol., 93, pp. 490-492, 2004.
|
