October 13th, 2011
National Lipid Association Expert Panel Has Many Deep Ties To Industry
Larry Husten, PHD
[Editor’s note: see here for a reply post to this news story by Chrstopher Seymour, MBA, Executive Director of the National Lipid Association]. An “expert panel” assembled by the National Lipid Association (NLA) is recommending a dramatic expansion in the use of new biomarkers for the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease. The recommendations, if widely […]
October 11th, 2011
Cardiologist Who Accused Famed Surgeon of Misconduct Is Fired by Northwestern University
Larry Husten, PHD
Northwestern University has dismissed the cardiologist who raised troubling questions about Patrick McCarthy, its star cardiac surgeon. The controversy began in 2008 when Nalini Rajamannan, an assistant professor of medicine, accused McCarthy of implanting in one of her patients an experimental annuloplasty ring, the Myxo ring, manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences. McCarthy, who had invented the […]
October 10th, 2011
TTOP-AF Trial Proves Efficacy of RF Ablation System, But Not Safety
Larry Husten, PHD
A new trial demonstrates that an investigational RF ablation system is more effective than medical management in treating persistent AF, but the trial failed to meet a key predefined safety goal. At the Venice Arrhythmias 2011 conference, Lucas Boersma presented the results of the TTOP-AF (Tailored Treatment of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation) trial, in which 210 […]
October 10th, 2011
The Vagaries of Atrial Fibrillation
Shengshou Hu, M.D.
Dr. Wes explores the features of a “full-disclosure” patch heart monitor that doesn’t seem to miss asymptomatic arrhythmias.
October 7th, 2011
FDA Approves Juvisync, Combination of Sitagliptin and Simvastatin
Larry Husten, PHD
The FDA has approved a fixed-dose combination tablet consisting of sitagliptin and simvastatin, two drugs previously approved for type 2 diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Merck will market the new drug as Juvisync. “This is the first product to combine a type 2 diabetes drug with a cholesterol lowering drug in one tablet,” said Mary H. Parks, […]
October 6th, 2011
J&J Pleads Guilty, Pays $85 Million to Settle Natrecor Case
Larry Husten, PHD
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Johnson & Johnson has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and has agreed to pay an $85 million criminal fine to settle charges about the company’s marketing of Natrecor (nesiritide) for off-label use. The government said that Scios, the J&J subsidiary that marketed the drug, “admitted that it intended Natrecor […]
October 6th, 2011
Rivaroxaban Roundup: ATLAS-ACS an AHA Late-Breaker, NEJM Perspective, NYT Overview
Larry Husten, PHD
Rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson) is in the news today. In a rare move, the AHA has added the ATLAS ACS 2-TIMI 51 trial to its roster of Late-Breaking Clinical Trials to be presented next month at the AHA’s Scientific Sessions in Orlando. C. Michael Gibson will present the results on Sunday, November 13, at 5:13 PM. […]
October 5th, 2011
Does Intuition Lead to Bad Medical Decisions?
John E Brush, MD
Discussing how medical practitioners use intuition and cognitive shortcuts (heuristics) to make decisions can elicit strong reactions. Some people heartily agree that reflecting on their use is informative and helpful; others believe that to entertain this topic is to condone sloppy thinking and to renounce rationality and hard science. These critics are concerned that heuristic […]
October 4th, 2011
Is “Stent and Send” Safe for Older Patients?
Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD
Should older patients who undergo elective coronary artery stenting be sent home the same day? Using data from the CathPCI Registry, Rao and colleagues examined outcomes in Medicare-eligible patients who underwent elective, first-time PCI. The investigators identified 107,018 patients (<11% of the million-plus older patients undergoing PCI during 2005–2008 after exclusion of those with ACS or shock and those transferred from another hospital or […]
October 4th, 2011
Same-Day Discharge After PCI: Safe but Rarely Used
Larry Husten, PHD
Same-day discharge after low-risk PCI is safe but only rarely used, according to a study published in JAMA. Sunil Rao and colleagues analyzed data from 107,018 Medicare patients who underwent PCI at sites taking part in the CathPCI Registry. Only a small percentage (1.25%) of patients in the study were discharged on the day of the […]