April 29th, 2010
Genomics Rubber Meets the Clinical Road
Larry Husten, PHD
Genomics Rubber Meets the Clinical Road: In a study without precedent, an asymptomatic 40-year-old man with a family history of coronary disease and sudden death received a comprehensive analysis of his full genome. According to the report in the Lancet, the investigators from Stanford and Massachusetts General Hospital found evidence that the man was at […]
April 29th, 2010
Do Hospital Rankings Have Any Good Use?
ashsehgal and Larry Husten, PHD
Hospital rankings now play an increasingly important role in the healthcare marketplace. In no field is the power of these rankings felt more than in cardiology. Ashwini Sehgal, the first author of a recent report in Annals of Internal Medicine, “The Role of Reputation in U.S. News & World Report‘s Rankings of the Top 50 […]
April 28th, 2010
The Acute Dangers of Insufficient Health Insurance
Kim G. Smolderen, PhD
We welcome Kim G. Smolderen, PhD, to answer our questions about her research group’s JAMA study “Health Care Insurance, Financial Concerns in Accessing Care, and Delays to Hospital Presentation in Acute Myocardial Infarction” Among her coauthors were CardioExchange contributor Dr. Paul S. Chan—who participated in our exchange with Smolderen—and CardioExchange Editor Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz. We encourage […]
April 28th, 2010
• Vitamin B May Be Harmful in Diabetic Nephropathy
• Judge Rejects Guidant Plea Agreement
Larry Husten, PHD
Vitamin B May Be Harmful in Diabetic Nephropathy: Once again the early hopes for vitamin B have been dashed against the rocks of a clinical trial. In a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Andrew House and colleagues report the results of DIVINe (Diabetic Intervention with Vitamins to Improve Nephropathy), a multicenter, […]
April 27th, 2010
What are we testing for?
Andrew M. Kates, MD
I recently had to register to recertify for my echo boards and it got me thinking more about board exams, review courses and such. What is it about exams? Just what are we testing? Is it basic knowledge, competency, advanced knowledge? In addition, what do we expect our fellows to know as they take exams? This is also […]
April 27th, 2010
• Good News & Bad News for Calcium Scores
• Really Bad News for Steroid Users
Larry Husten, PHD
Good News & Bad News for Calcium Scores: Using data from 5,878 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), Polonsky and colleagues assessed the value of adding coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores to traditional risk factor assessments. In their report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the investigators concluded that adding CAC […]
April 27th, 2010
COURAGE Two Years Later: Finding Common Ground
L. David Hillis, MD
Following is an exchange between Bill Boden and Gregg Stone, facilitated by Interventional Cardiology moderators Richard Lange and David Hillis. An audio file of the complete conversation from which this text was adapted is available here. Rick Lange: Given all the debate and controversy surrounding the COURAGE trial, what are the issues on which you find agreement? […]
April 26th, 2010
• New Study Raises Fresh Concerns About Clopidogrel and PPIs
• Universal Versus Targeted Screening
Larry Husten, PHD
New Study Raises Fresh Concerns About Clopidogrel and PPIs: In a retrospective analysis of a large insurance plan appearing in Archives of Internal Medicine, patients taking a PPI and clopidogrel had a 93% higher risk of rehospitalization for MI than patients taking clopidogrel alone. To better account for underlying differences associated with PPI use, the […]
April 25th, 2010
Why I Don’t Recommend Statins for Primary Prevention in Women
Rita F Redberg, MD, MSc
For many treatment strategies, the highest-risk groups derive the most benefit. Prevention of cardiovascular disease is no exception: Secondary prevention is where the greatest benefits lie. With regard specifically to primary prevention of CVD in women, my review of the evidence has led me to conclude that statin use is not warranted as a broad-based […]
April 22nd, 2010
Liraglutide Beats Sitagliptin in Glucose Control
Larry Husten, PHD
Liraglutide Beats Sitagliptin in Glucose Control: A once-daily injection of the GLP-1 analog liraglutide was superior to the DPP-4 inhibitor sitagliptin in reducing glucose levels in type-2 diabetics already taking metformin. The report by Richard Pratley and colleagues on more than 600 patients enrolled in the parallel-group, open-label trial appears in the Lancet. Liraglutide also […]