March 8th, 2011
European Study Suggests HDL May Protect Against Colon Cancer
Larry Husten, PHD
In the largest study to date examining the relationship between lipids and colorectal cancer (CRC), a European study has found a strong inverse relationship between HDL cholesterol and colon cancer. Previous smaller studies investigating the relationship had been inconclusive. In a paper published in Gut, Fränzel JB van Duijnhoven and colleagues report on a nested case-control […]
March 7th, 2011
Meta-Analysis Finds Mediterranean Diet Helps Fight Metabolic Syndrome
Larry Husten, PHD
The Mediterranean diet may be a potent weapon in the battle to halt the growth of metabolic syndrome (MS), a new meta-analysis suggests. Christina-Maria Kastorini and colleagues performed a meta-analysis on 50 studies including nearly 535,000 participants. In their paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, they report that adherence to the Mediterranean […]
March 4th, 2011
Legislating CVD Screening Tests in Texas
Amit Khera, MD, MSc
Imaging tests for cardiovascular risk assessment hold great promise. Both coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) testing have been shown in multiple prospective studies to predict cardiovascular outcomes and, more recently, to improve risk reclassification based upon the Framingham Risk Score. Coupled with frustrations about the performance of the Framingham Risk […]
March 4th, 2011
13th Annual Echocardiography Conference: State-of-the-Art 2011
CardioExchange Editors, Staff
13th Annual Echocardiography Conference: State-of-the-Art 2011 New York, NY
March 3rd, 2011
Pennsylvania Hospital: 141 Patients Received Unnecessary Stents
Larry Husten, PHD
A hospital in western Pennsylvania says that at least 141 heart patients received coronary stents that weren’t needed, according to an article by Luis Fabregas in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, PA has informed the patients, and the two interventional cardiologists who performed the procedures have resigned. The hospital says that it will cooperate with […]
March 3rd, 2011
5-Year Followup of ACCORD: Still No Support For Intensive Glucose Lowering
Larry Husten, PHD
Long-term followup of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial has once again failed to support routine intensive glucose lowering in high-risk type 2 diabetics. In 2008, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the intensive glucose-lowering regimen (target glycated hemoglobin level of <6%) was terminated early after an increase in mortality was […]
March 2nd, 2011
A DOSE of Reality: The Challenges of Comparing Effectiveness
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
An ideal paper for your next journal club — “Diuretic Strategies in Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure” — was just published in NEJM, by the NHLBI Heart Failure Clinical Research Network. In this study (called DOSE), patients hospitalized with heart failure were randomized to receive different diuretic regimens based on dose and mode of […]
March 2nd, 2011
Questioning the DOSE
Anju Nohria, MD
Although widely used for decades, the best way to use loop diuretics in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) has never been well studied. The Diuretic Optimization Strategies Evaluation (DOSE) study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, randomized 308 ADHF patients to a bolus every 12 hours or a continuous infusion of furosemide at […]
March 2nd, 2011
FDA Finds No Increased Risk For MI With Abacavir
Larry Husten, PHD
An ongoing safety review by the FDA of the antiviral medication abacavir found no evidence for an increased risk for MI associated with the drug. The FDA said an increased risk for MI with abacavir had been seen in several observational studies and one randomized controlled trial (RCT), but not in other RCTs or in […]
March 1st, 2011
CV Device Trials Still Fail To Include More Women
Larry Husten, PHD
Women continue to be significantly underrepresented in trials of cardiovascular devices, according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Sanket Dhruva and colleagues performed a systematic review of the PMA applications for 78 high-risk cardiovascular medical devices submitted to the FDA from 2000 to 2007. Despite repeated attempts to call attention to the […]