Posted on February 1, 2012 by Larry Husten
Although clinical trials have consistently found a beneficial effects for statins, some critics have questioned the strength of the evidence in women, who are often under-represented in clinical trials. A large new meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provides the best evidence yet that the relative reductions in events observed in [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: journal of the american college of cardiology, lori mosca, prevention trials | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 31, 2012 by Larry Husten
Following the recent approval by the FDA of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the ACC, AATS, SCAI, and STS, in conjunction with several other medical organizations, have released a critical consensus document to guide use of the new landmark procedure. “We have tried to collate the evidence into a coherent road map for judicious use, rational [...]
Filed under: Interventional Cardiology & Surgery, Uncategorized | Tagged: aortic stenosis, aortic valve replacement, TAVI, TAVR | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 27, 2012 by Larry Husten
The American College of Cardiology has released the roster of late-breaking clinical trials that will be presented in March at the ACC Scientific Sessions: ACC.12 Opening Session and Late-Breaking Clinical Trials Saturday, March 24, 2012, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Effect of Transendocardial Autologous Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cell Delivery on Functional Capacity, Left Ventricular Function [...]
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Posted on January 26, 2012 by Larry Husten
The NHLBI today announced the launch of two large clinical trials evaluating treatments for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The Continuous Chest Compressions (CCC) trial will randomize 23,600 people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest to either standard CPR or continuous chest compressions, both delivered by paramedics or fire fighters. In recent years, studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: ems teams, professional cpr, sudden cardiac arrest | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 26, 2012 by Larry Husten
Since 2002 in England the incidence of acute MI has dropped by one-half and the case fatality rate by one-third, according to a new study published in BMJ. The overall decline in deaths from MI are about equally due to improvements in the prevention of MI and the treatment of MI. Kate Smolina and colleagues [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: acute myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 25, 2012 by Larry Husten
An enormous new meta-analysis confirms the important role that risk factors play over a lifetime in the development of cardiovascular disease. In a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Jarett Berry and colleagues report on the new meta-analysis from the Cardiovascular Lifetime Risk Pooling Project, which contains data from 18 epidemiological studies including more than [...]
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Posted on January 25, 2012 by Larry Husten
The FDA rejected a new indication for Merck’s Vytorin and Zetia (ezetimibe plus simvastatin and ezetimibe alone) in chronic kidney disease patients. As a consolation prize, however, the agency approved a new label for Vytorin that will incorporate the results of SHARP (Study of Heart and Renal Protection), which found that Vytorin reduced the incidence of [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: chronic kidney disease, dialysis patients, ezetimibe and simvastatin, fda decision | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 24, 2012 by Larry Husten
The US government has joined a cardiologist in a whistleblower lawsuit against Hamot Medical Center in western Pennsylvania and a group of cardiologists with whom he once practiced, Ed Palattella reports in the Erie Times-News. Cardiologist Tullio Emanuele, who now practices in Kentucky, has accused five former colleagues, members of Medicor Associates Inc. and its affiliate, Flagship Cardiac, [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: pittsburgh medical center, st joseph medical center | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 24, 2012 by Larry Husten
A new study published in Archives of Internal Medicine provides the best evidence yet that drinking black tea can lower blood pressure. Jonathan M. Hodgson and colleagues randomized 95 regular tea drinkers to either 3 cups per day of either black tea (containing 429 mg of polyphenols and 96 mg of caffeine) or placebo. At 3 and 6 [...]
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Posted on January 23, 2012 by Larry Husten
In response to the guest post summarizing the Riata ICD Lead Summit, St. Jude Medical sent the following statement to CardioBrief: We recognize that the phenomenon of externalized conductors presents a complex patient management scenario for physicians who may be able to visualize an anomaly, but it is important to remember that most leads with [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: st jude medical | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 23, 2012 by Larry Husten
The debate over whether statins should be used for primary prevention moved to the Wall Street Journal with opposing perspectives from cardiologists Roger Blumenthal and Rita Redberg. Blumenthal argues that “there is a mountain of high-quality scientific evidence” to support the use of statins in people without known heart disease but “demonstrated to be at high [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: mortality benefit, primary prevention | 6 Comments »
Posted on January 21, 2012 by Larry Husten
Second update: Click here to review the slides from the meeting (posted by the Minneapolis Heart Institute), Update: Click here to read a statement from St Jude Medical in response to this post. Editor’s Note: Edward J. Schloss (Twitter ID @EJSMD), the medical director of cardiac electrophysiology at the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, OH, returned [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: cardiac electrophysiology, dr hauser | 6 Comments »
Posted on January 19, 2012 by Larry Husten
Computed tomography angiography (CTA) has been proposed as a less invasive method to exclude obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), but no consensus has been achieved about its clinical role in different patient subsets. Now a new report published in JACC from the CORE-64 (Coronary Artery Evaluation Using 64-Row Multidetector Computed Tomography Angiography) study shows that CTA may not [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: calcium score, coronary artery disease, coronary calcification, coronary calcium, steve nissen | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 18, 2012 by Larry Husten
Editor’s Note: The following guest post by Gary Schwitzer is reprinted with permission from his HealthNewsReview blog, an indispensable resource for tracking the best and worst of healthcare journalism. A critical analysis of ABC & Bill Weir’s “lifesaving test” story by Gary Schwitzer ABC News is in the midst of a major promotion of Dr. David [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: abc news, bill weir, healthnewsreview, lifesaving test, nightline host | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 18, 2012 by Larry Husten
Earlier today I reported the news that enrollment in the FAME II study had been stopped early by the DSMB. From the initial presentation of the first FAME trial several years ago, I’ve been fascinated by the potential of this technology, since it offers the tantalizing prospect of helping identify atherosclerotic lesions that actually will [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: angiography, atherosclerotic lesions, dsmb, randomization | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 18, 2012 by Larry Husten
Following a positive interim analysis showing that fractional flow-reserve-guided PCI was superior to optimal medical treatment, an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) has recommended that patient enrollment in the ongoing FAME II trial be stopped. The news was announced by the trial sponsor, St. Jude Medical. FAME II (Fractional Flow Reserve-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Plus Optimal [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: coronary artery disease, data safety monitoring board, disease investigators, st jude medical | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 17, 2012 by Larry Husten
As a potent and reversible platelet inhibitor, cangrelor has been proposed for use in a bridging strategy for patients scheduled for surgery who are currently taking clopidogrel or another thienopyridine. To test this strategy, the BRIDGE investigators randomized 210 ACS or stent patients awaiting CABG and taking a thienopyridine to receive either cangrelor or placebo [...]
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Posted on January 16, 2012 by Larry Husten
Last week a new case of scientific misconduct came to light. University of Connecticut resveratrol researcher Dipak Das was accused of serious scientific misconduct. (You can read my brief post about the case or, for all the gory details, you can follow the story on Retraction Watch.) In this post I’d like to make two fairly simple [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: resveratrol, scientific misconduct | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 12, 2012 by Larry Husten
Long distance runners may be lonely but they are not at high risk for sudden cardiac arrest, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The RACER (Race Associated Cardiac Arrest Event Registry) investigators analyzed data from 10.9 million registered participants in marathons and half-marathons that took place in the US during the [...]
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Posted on January 11, 2012 by Larry Husten
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds some much-needed light on the precise role of subclinical atrial fibrillation (AF) in the prognosis and development of ischemic stroke. ASSERT (Asymptomatic Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke Evaluation in Pacemaker Patients and the Atrial Fibrillation Reduction Atrial Pacing Trial) followed 2580 patients with a newly implanted pacemaker or ICD [...]
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Posted on January 11, 2012 by Larry Husten
[See update at the end of the story] Following an extensive investigation, Depak Das, a professor in the Department of Surgery and director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, has been accused of serious scientific misconduct. UConn has informed 11 scientific journals about the investigation. Das had numerous publications on resveratrol [...]
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Posted on January 10, 2012 by Larry Husten
Current guidelines for the treatment of acute MI recommend that serum potassium be maintained between 4.0 and 5.0 mEq/L, and some believe that the upper limit could be raised to 5.5, but evidence is based on small, outdated studies. Now a new study published in JAMA suggests that the ideal potassium range should be adjusted downward. [...]
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Posted on January 9, 2012 by Larry Husten
Compared with controls, dabigatran (Pradaxa) is associated with a higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI) or acute coronary syndrome, according to a new meta-analysis published online in Archives of Internal Medicine. Ken Uchino and Adrian Hernandez analyzed data from seven clinical trials comparing dabigatran with warfarin, enoxaparin, or placebo in 30,514 patients. The rate of [...]
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Posted on January 9, 2012 by Larry Husten
Statins increase the risk of developing diabetes in postmenopausal women, according to a new study published in Archives of Internal Medicine. The study provides more evidence and details about the previously reported link between statins and the development of diabetes. Using data from more than 153,000 postmenopausal women who were participating in the Women’s Health [...]
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Posted on January 5, 2012 by Larry Husten
Two Danish diabetes researchers claim that the pharmaceutical industry may be manipulating independent clinical research by controlling access to placebo drugs or devices. In a letter published in the Lancet, Mikkel Christensen and Filip K Knop write that “this could be a major way for the pharmaceutical industry to control scientific information about their drugs.” They cite [...]
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