February 26th, 2010
Friday February 26: Carotid Stenting Gets a Boost from CREST
Larry Husten, PHD
Results of the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy Versus Stenting Trial (CREST) were presented in San Antonio at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2010. The trial compared carotid endarterectomy to carotid stenting in 2,502 patients at centers in the US and Canada. The primary outcome—the 30 day rate of stroke, death, and MI combined with the rate […]
February 25th, 2010
Thursday, February 25 News Roundup: Carotid Stenting vs. Endarterectomy; Ischemic Preconditioning; Krumholz on Avandia
Larry Husten, PHD
Carotid Stenting vs. Endarterectomy: The International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS) is an ongoing randomized trial comparing carotid stenting to carotid endarterectomy in 1,713 patients. The primary endpoint is the 3-year rate of fatal or disabling stroke. The ICSS investigators report in the Lancet the results of an interim safety analysis. The rate of stroke, death, […]
February 25th, 2010
Proposed Performance Measures for Hypertension and Stable Coronary Artery Disease Now Available for Public Comment!
Frederick Masoudi, MD, MSPH
The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, collaborating with the American Medical Association’s Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI), have drafted an updated set of clinical performance measures for assessing and improving the quality of ambulatory care of patients with hypertension and stable coronary artery disease. These measures, which assess processes of care (e.g., medication prescription) […]
February 24th, 2010
Wednesday February 24 Avandia Roundup: AHA & ACC Publish Science Advisory on TZDs; GlaxoSmithKline White Paper
Larry Husten, PHD
AHA/ACC Publish Science Advisory on Thiazolidinedione Drugs: Apparently in response to the renewed controversy over rosiglitazone (Avandia), the AHA and the ACC published a science advisory on thiazolidinedione drugs and cardiovascular risks. The advisory contains a highly detailed and balanced analysis of the issue. The authors, led by Sanjay Kaul, conclude that “an association between […]
February 23rd, 2010
Tuesday, February 23 News Roundup: Avandia Remains in the News; Dutch Study Questions Platelet Function Tests; IOM Report on Hypertension
Larry Husten, PHD
Avandia Stays in the News: Responding to all the news last weekend about rosiglitazone (Avandia), the FDA announced an ongoing review of the cardiovascular safety of Avandia based on the RECORD trial and published a safety announcement along with additional information for patients and healthcare professionals. Adding even more drama to events, a New York Times story by Gardiner Harris […]
February 22nd, 2010
Monday February 22 News Roundup: Distal Protection for Primary PCI; 1 Million Stroke Patients Who Got the Guidelines
Larry Husten, PHD
Distal Protection for Primary PCI: The DEDICATION (Drug Elution and Distal Protection in STElevation Myocardial Infarction Trial) trial has turned up a troubling suggestion of an increased risk for stent thrombosis in STEMI patients who received distal protection (DP) adjunctive to primary PCI. In a study appearing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the […]
February 20th, 2010
Senators and FDA Officials Attack Avandia
Larry Husten, PHD
A front page story in the New York Times reports that U.S. Senators and FDA officials are raising new questions about Avandia (rosiglitazone). A soon-to-be-released Senate report asks whether it is ethical to continue the ongoing 16,000 patient TIDE trial, while several FDA officials recommend that the drug should be removed from the market. In […]
February 19th, 2010
Who Does and Who Doesn’t Get Aspirin? Can We Do Better?
Christopher Paul Cannon, MD
Aspirin is the best known and most widely used preventive therapy. A century of clinical experience and randomized trials in over 250,000 patients have proved its benefit in preventing cardiovascular events, and it costs pennies a day. So how can it be that not everyone who needs it gets it? In a new report, we […]
February 18th, 2010
Thursday, February 18 News: Renal Outcomes in ACCOMPLISH Published in Lancet
Larry Husten, PHD
The combination of benazepril plus amlodipine was more effective than the combination of benazepril plus hydrochlorothiazide in preventing progression of chronic kidney disease, according to a new report from the Avoiding Cardiovascular Events in Combination Therapy in Patients Living with Systolic Hypertension (ACCOMPLISH) trial published online in the Lancet. ACCOMPLISH investigators had previously reported the main results of […]
February 17th, 2010
Which Strategy for Severe Calcific Aortic Stenosis?
Anju Nohria, MD and James Fang, MD
The patient is a 72-year-old man with a history of ischemic cardiomyopathy (LV ejection fraction, 30%–35%) and NYHA class II/III heart-failure symptoms at baseline. Over the previous month, he had experienced recurrent episodes of volume overload and sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) requiring intravenous diuretics and up-titration of his amiodarone therapy. He then presented in VT […]