May 31st, 2011
Biomarkers: Don’t Believe the Hype
Larry Husten, PHD
Watch out for hype when examining the biomarker literature, a new study published in JAMA suggests. John Ioannidis and Orestis Panagiotou first searched the literature and identified highly cited studies of biomarkers that included a relative risk calculation of effect size on a particular outcome. Most of the 35 studies reported cancer- or cardiovascular-related outcomes. […]
May 27th, 2011
AIM-HIGH Halted: A Death Knell for the HDL Hypothesis? Six Experts Weigh In
CardioExchange Editors, Staff
Earlier this week, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute stopped the randomized clinical trial known as AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health). It had been designed to test the addition of high-dose, extended-release niacin to statins in people who were at risk for cardiovascular events, had well-controlled […]
May 26th, 2011
NHLBI Stops the AIM-HIGH Trial of Niacin
Larry Husten, PHD
The AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health) trial of niacin has been stopped early by the NHLBI. The trial was designed to test the addition of high-dose, extended-release niacin to statins in people at risk for CV events who had well-controlled LDL but low HDL and elevated […]
May 25th, 2011
FDA Approves Xience Nano for Small Vessels
Larry Husten, PHD
The FDA has approved the Xience Nano everolimus-eluting stent, Abbott has announced. The stent is based on the same platform as the popular Xience V stent, and can be used in vessels as small as 2.25 mm. The approval was based on results from the SPIRIT Small Vessel clinical trial. The rate of target lesion […]
May 24th, 2011
Copeptin May Help Predict CV Death in Elderly HF Patients
Larry Husten, PHD
The biomarker copeptin, which is a surrogate marker of vasopressin, may help predict the risk for death in elderly heart failure patients, according to a new study in JAMA. Urban Alehagen and colleagues followed 470 elderly HF patients from 1996 through 2009, during which time there were 226 deaths from any cause and 146 deaths […]
May 24th, 2011
New-Onset AF Linked to Increase in Death and CV Events in Women
Larry Husten, PHD
In the Women’s Health Study, which followed nearly 35,000 women for more than 15 years, mortality was significantly higher in the 1011 women who developed AF than in the women who did not, according to a report by David Conen and colleagues published in JAMA. Here are the incidence rates (per 1000 person-years of follow-up) […]
May 24th, 2011
Stent BioWars: Erode or Absorb?
Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD
In January 2011, we blogged about ABSORB, a bioresorbable stent, when it received CE approval for use in Europe. Drug-eluting stents (DES) are composed of a metal scaffold that is coated with a polymer containing an antiproliferative agent , which is released gradually over the weeks to months after the stent is inserted. The durable polymer residue […]
May 23rd, 2011
What Is the Impact of Screening Low-Risk Patients with CT Angiography?
Larry Husten, PHD
In a study published online in Archives of Internal Medicine, John McEvoy and colleagues examine the impact of screening low-risk patients with coronary CT angiography (CCTA). They compared 1000 South Korean patients who underwent CCTA with 1000 matched controls. CCTA identified 215 people with coronary atherosclerosis. At 90 days and at 18 months, statins and […]
May 23rd, 2011
Eplerenone Found to Also Reduce AF in Heart Failure Patients
Larry Husten, PHD
Results from EMPHASIS-HF (Eplerenone and Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Systolic Heart Failure and Mild Symptoms) previously showed that adding the aldosterone antagonist eplerenone to standard therapy in patients with NYHA class II heart failure resulted in the reduction of the composite endpoint of death from cardiovascular causes or hospitalization for heart failure. Now, a […]
May 20th, 2011
Data from Our International Survey of Medical School Grads
John Ryan, MD
Earlier this year we at CardioExchange surveyed international medical school graduates from our online community. We sent out a questionnaire to 850 internationally based physicians from around the globe and received 29 responses (a 3.4% survey-response rate) from 6 continents. The largest group of respondents (19%) was from India, then 12% each from Brazil and […]