May 10th, 2011
Trial REVEALs No Benefit and Some Concerns with Erythropoietin After Primary PCI
Larry Husten, PHD
Erythropoietin alfa failed to reduce infarct size and was associated with more cardiovascular events when given after successful PCI in STEMI patients, according to results from the REVEAL (Reduction of Infarct Expansion and Ventricular Remodeling With Erythropoietin After Large Myocardial Infarction) trial published in JAMA. In the trial, which included a dose-escalation safety phase and […]
May 10th, 2011
Short-Term NSAID Use Linked to Increased CV Risk
Larry Husten, PHD
Short-term use of NSAIDs, including diclofenac, is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, according to a very large study published online in Circulation. Danish researchers used a national registry to study more than 83,000 patients who were admitted to the hospital for a first MI from 1997 to 2006. Some 42% of the patients received NSAIDs […]
May 9th, 2011
Higher Periprocedural Risk for Stroke Found in Women Undergoing Carotid Stenting
Larry Husten, PHD
The periprocedural risk for stroke is higher among women undergoing carotid artery stenting than among those undergoing carotid endarterectomy, according to new results from the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST) published online in the Lancet Neurology. The same pattern was not found in men. Last year, the main results from CREST showed no […]
May 9th, 2011
Words, ICDs, and Patient-Centered Medicine…
John Mandrola, MD, FACC
John Mandrola is a cardiac electrophysiologist and blogger on matters medical and general. Here is a recent post from his blog, Dr John M. Guess what made the heart rhythm newswire yesterday? It wasn’t a new medicine, or a new stent, not even a new ablation catheter, and it surely wasn’t a revolution in motivating […]
May 6th, 2011
News Reports Scrutinize Heart Rhythm Society’s Ties To Industry
Larry Husten, PHD
A series of investigative reports published on ProPublica analyzes the financial relationships between medical societies and drug and device companies. The Heart Rhythm Society, whose annual meeting is now taking place in San Francisco, comes in for especially close scrutiny. The series begins: “From the time they arrived to the moment they laid their heads […]
May 5th, 2011
5 Patients Infected With Hepatitis C While Undergoing MPI
Larry Husten, PHD
Five patients undergoing myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) at a single outpatient clinic in North Carolina were infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) during the procedure, according to a paper published online in the American Journal of Cardoliology. Public health officials from North Carolina and the CDC report that their investigation began in May 2008 […]
May 4th, 2011
Study Estimates That Atrial Fibrillation Adds $26 Billion to Yearly U.S. Healthcare Costs
Larry Husten, PHD
Atrial fibrillation may add $26 billion to the nation’s healthcare bill, according to a study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Michael Kim and colleagues compared insurance claims for 1 year from 89,066 AF patients with claims from controls matched for gender, age, and other medical conditions and found that AF results in a […]
May 3rd, 2011
Study Challenges Efforts to Lower Salt in the General Population
Larry Husten, PHD
A new study challenges the conventional wisdom that lowering salt intake in the general population will result in fewer cardiovascular events. In a paper in JAMA, Katarzyna Stolarz-Skrzypek and colleagues report the results of the study, in which they followed 3,681 European people without cardiovascular disease after measuring their blood pressure and urinary sodium excretion. […]
May 3rd, 2011
CABG Takes the Brunt of Decline in Revascularization Procedures
Larry Husten, PHD
In recent years, the overall revascularization rate in the U.S. has declined only slightly, but CABG rates have taken the brunt of the change, while PCI rates have remained relatively stable, according to a new study by Andrew Epstein and colleagues published in JAMA. The researchers found that from 2001-2002 to 2007-2008: The annual rate […]
May 2nd, 2011
Standard Guidelines Compared with Individualized Guidelines
Larry Husten, PHD
Should patients be treated by standard guidelines, or should guidelines be individualized for patients? In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, David Eddy and colleagues used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study to calculate and compare the expected benefit from hypertension treatment based on JNC 7 guidelines with the […]