West Houston Heart Center - Humayun Naqvi, MD, MBA

West Houston Heart Center - Humayun Naqvi, MD, MBA We are focused on providing comprehensive, guideline directed, compassionate cardiovascular care in the west Houston area.

For you next appointment, please visit:

https://health.healow.com/westhoustonheart Humayun Naqvi, MD, MBA, FACC, and his staff at West Houston Heart Center in Houston, Texas, provide the expert care their patients require to overcome the challenges of heart disease. Dr. Naqvi also specializes in preventative cardiology, focusing on minimizing risk factors for heart disease and preventing worsenin

g illness. Services at West Houston Heart Center utilize the latest diagnostic equipment and testing modalities to provide evidence-based treatments that offer excellent results for cholesterol management, elevated blood pressure, congestive heart failure, metabolic syndrome, heart attack, atrial fibrillation/arrhythmias, peripheral vascular disease, and aortic aneurysm. Procedures and diagnostic studies available through West Houston Heart Center include nuclear stress testing, left and right heart catheterization, transesophageal echocardiogram, dobutamine stress echo, loop recorder placement, cardiac CT, and ankle-brachial index (ABI) studies. Dr. Naqvi and his staff combine highly advanced medical technologies and techniques with personalized, patient-centered healthcare that creates an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. As a Preventive Cardiology specialist, Dr. Naqvi also offers cardiac evaluations and customized strategies for maintaining optimal heart health regardless of age. Schedule an evaluation at West Houston Heart Center today by calling the office or requesting an appointment using their convenient and secure online service.

08/07/2026

The most adopted technology in the medical community in regards to AI is the ambient AI scribe. But what if the ambient AI scribe hears something wrong, writes something wrong, and then without reviewing, the physician just signs off the note? Signing the note is ownership of the note, even if you didn’t write everything.

In a past episode of 2Docs1Mic, we discussed the importance of human-in-the-loop. Complete reliance on AI and taking out the human in the loop can be harmful, and especially in medicine can increase the amount of medical errors.

At West Houston Heart Center we use ambient AI scribes. However, we have multiple layers of security before the note is finalized, and every patient is informed and consented regarding AI use before even starting the visit. The key to remember is that the partnership of artificial intelligence along with human intelligence is what will create the edge — rather than complete reliance on AI or automation.

https://substack.com/

08/06/2026

A randomized controlled trial put five minutes of prayer against music for pain and anxiety. Prayer won — and the effect lasted six weeks.

It was published in the Annals of Family Medicine (May 26, 2026): 180 primary-care adults randomized to five minutes of prayer or a music control. The mechanism is not clear. The result was: lower pain and lower anxiety in the prayer arm, and it held.

Chaplains leading prayer — or a physician joining a patient in prayer — is worth taking seriously as a real adjunct, not a soft extra. I may not share the same faith as every patient in front of me. If they ask me to pray with them, and it might help them heal, I will.

https://substack.com/

08/06/2026

At Biopharma Informatics we are building automations across different parts of the business.

Not to replace our people.

To take the grinding work off our coordinators and staff so they can focus on what actually moves a trial: patients, judgment, and clean data.

If automation only cuts headcount, we built the wrong thing. If it makes the job better and the data better, we are on track.

Quality data does not come from fewer humans. It comes from humans who are not buried in busywork.

That is the point.

https://substack.com/

08/04/2026

A July 2026 study found microplastics in most coronary blood samples from patients who just had a heart attack. It was a 61-patient study in which patients underwent coronary angiography for suspected coronary artery disease, including presentations of STEMI, chronic CAD, and normal coronaries. 84% of the patients who presented with STEMI had detectable microplastics, compared with 40% and 32% of those who had stable chronic disease or normal coronaries. Smokers were also found to be 6× more likely to have detectable plastics in their coronaries.

This doesn’t mean you can stop all preventive measures as long as you avoid plastics. It means that as physicians we have to keep promoting primary prevention strategies and figure out how to frame and counsel this new finding in our daily conversations.

https://substack.com/

08/04/2026

hsCRP comes back high on a secondary-prevention visit and the talk slides to residual inflammatory risk.

Novo just read out ZEUS. Monthly ziltivekimab. More than 6,300 people with ASCVD, CKD, and hsCRP at least 2. Biopharma Informatics was a site on that trial. We watched patients through long follow-up for a clean outcomes answer.

The drug did its job on the labs. Free IL-6 fell. CRP fell. Heart attacks, strokes, and CV death did not move. Hazard ratio 0.99. The confidence interval crossed one. All-cause mortality unchanged. Serious infections higher.

Hitting the pathway is not the same as fewer events.

I'm not throwing inflammation out as biology. Proven tools still carry the visit: lipids, blood pressure, diabetes, meds people can stay on. What I'm not doing is escalating therapy because a marker got quieter.

Full ZEUS data later this year. HERMES and ARTEMIS still running into 2027. Until then, a quieter CRP is not a clinical win.

https://substack.com/

08/01/2026

A calcium score is not a verdict.

It is a decision tool for the patient whose statin choice is still uncertain.

CAUGHT-CAD (JAMA 2025) tested what happens when intermediate-risk adults see their calcium score, get structured follow-up, and start a statin. LDL fell hard. Higher-risk plaque progressed less. That was a full prevention program, not the scan alone — and the trial was not built to prove fewer heart attacks or deaths.

That still matches how I use CAC in clinic.

If the result will not change the plan, I usually do not order the scan.
If it will, the number can settle a gray-zone decision without false reassurance or unnecessary fear.

Zero is not lifetime clearance.
A high score is not an automatic ticket to the cath lab.
And an orphaned PDF in a portal is not prevention.

Full piece:
https://humayunnaqvi.substack.com/p/the-calcium-score-is-not-a-verdict

https://substack.com/

07/31/2026

In clinic operations, when patient care is at stake, closed-loop communication is paramount. If the person who opened the task never closes it, the loop is still open. Clinical tasks need an outcome trail where the creator of the task can verify that a task is done and closed.

Creating processes and assigned roles for staff is antifragile. An organization with no clarity on roles, a lack of closed-loop communication, a flood of disorganized sticky notes, and no to-do list is prone to failure.

https://substack.com/

07/30/2026

Enrollment in a clinical trial does not end with the patient signing the consent form. Too many research sites celebrate the signed ICF like the finish line. The real win is the final end-of-trial visit, where the patient finishes the clinical trial and gives us the opportunity to add to the growing data on a possible life-saving therapy on the horizon.

Anyone who participates in clinical research knows how difficult it is to run a trial from start to finish, get quality data, and retain a patient through a long cardiovascular outcomes trial. The real KPI for a research site is not whether they randomized patients. The real KPI is whether the randomized patients made it to the finish line.

https://substack.com/

07/29/2026

Many studies show that plaque begets plaque. Showing intermediate-risk patients their calcium score does not only scare them — it also slowed their plaque growth.

CAUGHT-CAD, a randomized controlled trial, enrolled 365 adults with intermediate risk of ASCVD and a family history of heart disease who underwent calcium scoring. They were randomized to two arms: one arm was shown their calcium score and started on a moderate-intensity statin; the other received usual care.

Amazingly, the informed arm had significantly slower plaque progression, a lower burden of noncalcified plaque, and a significant decrease in LDL. It showed two things: LDL lowering slows plaque progression, and early information plus risk assessment leads to less plaque progression over time.

https://substack.com/

07/28/2026

I am personally looking forward to having the chance to discuss with my patients the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor, Lipfendra (enlicitide). This is a 20 mg daily pill that showed a nearly 56% reduction in LDL. There was a significant reduction in non-HDL cholesterol and ApoB as well.

Even though the CV outcomes data is not out yet, LDL reduction is meaningful. So many patients hear a lot of noise about statins through online channels and are always looking for alternatives. I believe that if a patient has a made-up mind and biases, it is hard to get them compliant with medications despite all the pro-statin data I provide them. This is where a statin alternative that could be equally or more effective will make the conversation much easier.

https://substack.com/

Address

1140 Business Center Drive Ste 300
Houston, TX
77043

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18324003957

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