January 31st, 2012
Guiding TAVR into Clinical Practice
Steven Bailey, MD, Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD
The ACC, AATS, SCAI, and STS have issued a critical consensus document to guide the use of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as it enters clinical practice in the U.S. (see also our CardioExchange news coverage here). CardioExchange Interventional Cardiology moderators Rick Lange and David Hillis posed the following questions to writing committee member Steven R Bailey, the Janey Briscoe Distinguished Professor of […]
January 31st, 2012
Consensus Document Provides Roadmap to Uptake of TAVR in U.S.
Larry Husten, PHD
Following the recent FDA approval of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), the ACC, AATS, SCAI, and STS — in conjunction with several other medical organizations — have released a critical consensus document to guide use of the new landmark procedure. “We have tried to collate the evidence into a coherent road map for judicious use, rational […]
January 31st, 2012
Robert Harrington Leaving Duke for Stanford University
Larry Husten, PHD
Robert Harrington will be leaving his position as the director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, a position he has held since 2006, to become the new chair of the department of medicine at Stanford University. Harrington was also the Richard S. Stack MD Distinguished Professor at Duke University School of Medicine. The news was publicly […]
January 31st, 2012
Appropriate Use Criteria for Revascularization Updated
Larry Husten, PHD
The ACC, AHA, and other organizations have released updated appropriate use criteria for coronary revascularization. The 2012 Appropriate Use Criteria for Coronary Revascularization Focused Update incorporates data from the SYNTAX trial on the indications for PCI and CABG in patients with symptomatic, multivessel disease, as well as data from the CathPCI registry. Here are some of the […]
January 30th, 2012
Very Large Observational Study Finds Significant Mortality Advantage for CABG Over PCI in High-Risk Patients
Larry Husten, PHD
Although PCI has a small, early mortality benefit compared to CABG in high-risk patients, after the first year a striking survival advantage for CABG develops, according to results of the ASCERT study, presented on Monday at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Fred Edwards presented the high-risk subset of ASCERT (ACCF-STS Database […]
January 30th, 2012
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Weekly Review: Week of January 30th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include lifetime cardiovascular risks, anticoagulation self-monitoring, opting for thrombolytics over late transfer for PCI, exercise’s antidepressant effect, and the worry that statins can induce diabetes.
January 27th, 2012
Plaque Rupture with Thrombosis, After Shooting Hoops
Indu Poornima, MD and James Fang, MD
A 22-year-old white man presented to the ER with acute non-ST-segment-elevation MI, after playing basketball. He had experienced chest pain on and off for more than 10 hours before presentation. His initial EKG showed T-wave inversions in leads III and avF (see image), and his troponin T level was 1.2 ng/mL. The patient’s initial pain […]
January 26th, 2012
Follow the Fellows: Turning Points
William Kent Cornwell, MD, Kathryn Jesseca Lindley, MD, Aaron C. Earles, DO and Erica Sarah Spatz, MD, MHS
The fellows describe the challenging moments that brought them to select cardiology as their specialty.
January 26th, 2012
NHLBI Launches Two Large Cardiac Arrest Treatment Trials
Larry Husten, PHD
The NHLBI today announced the launch of two large clinical trials evaluating treatments for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The Continuous Chest Compressions (CCC) trial will randomize 23,600 people with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest to either standard CPR or continuous chest compressions, both delivered by paramedics or fire fighters. In recent years, studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and the Lancet have provided […]
January 26th, 2012
Big Drop in MI Incidence and Fatality in England
Larry Husten, PHD
Since 2002, the incidence of acute MI in England has dropped by one-half and the case fatality rate by one-third, according to a new study published in BMJ. The overall decline in deaths from MI is about equally due to improvements in the prevention of MI and the treatment of MI. Kate Smolina and colleagues analyzed data […]