January 26th, 2012
Sizing Up Clinical Trials — Quickly and Intuitively
John E Brush, MD
A pharmaceutical sales rep comes to your office bringing lunch. He shows you a graphic stating that Multaq (dronedarone) reduced the primary endpoint in the ATHENA trial by 24%. The fine print shows an impressive P value: <0.0001. You come away satisfied that this drug looks good. You may not realize it, but you also […]
January 25th, 2012
Huge Study Finds Risk Factors Do In Fact Predict Risk
Larry Husten, PHD
An enormous new meta-analysis confirms the important role that risk factors play over a lifetime in the development of cardiovascular disease. In a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Jarett Berry and colleagues report on the meta-analysis from the Cardiovascular Lifetime Risk Pooling Project, which contains data from 18 epidemiological studies including more than one-quarter million […]
January 25th, 2012
Heads Up (Lesions Down) on a New Embolic Protection Device for Carotid Arterial Stenting
Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD
The current standard of care for individuals undergoing carotid arterial stenting (CAS) entails the use of an embolic protection device (EPD) to minimize the risk for embolic stroke. At present, the only FDA-approved EPD is a filter that is placed distal to the stenosis (i.e., it is advanced across the lesion) before stenting. In a recently completed randomized trial, a proximal balloon occlusion device […]
January 25th, 2012
FDA Rejects Proposed Chronic Kidney Disease Indication for Vytorin
Larry Husten, PHD
The FDA rejected a new indication for Merck’s Vytorin and Zetia (ezetimibe plus simvastatin and ezetimibe alone) in chronic kidney disease patients. As a consolation prize, however, the agency approved a new label for Vytorin that will incorporate the results of SHARP (Study of Heart and Renal Protection), which found that the drug combination reduced the incidence […]
January 24th, 2012
Whistleblower Lawsuit Filed Against 5 Cardiologists in Pennsylvania
Larry Husten, PHD
The U.S. government has joined a cardiologist in a whistleblower lawsuit against Hamot Medical Center in western Pennsylvania and a group of cardiologists with whom he once practiced, Ed Palattella reports in the Erie Times-News. Cardiologist Tullio Emanuele, who now practices in Kentucky, has accused five former colleagues — members of Medicor Associates Inc. and its affiliate, Flagship […]
January 24th, 2012
Black Tea Found to Lower Blood Pressure
Larry Husten, PHD
A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine provides the best evidence yet that drinking black tea can lower blood pressure. Jonathan M. Hodgson and colleagues randomized 95 regular tea drinkers to 3 cups per day of either black tea (containing 429 mg of polyphenols and 96 mg of caffeine) or placebo. At 3 and […]
January 23rd, 2012
Rita Redberg and Roger Blumenthal Clash Over Statins for Primary Prevention in the Wall Street Journal
Larry Husten, PHD
The debate over whether statins should be used for primary prevention moved to the Wall Street Journal with opposing perspectives from cardiologists Roger Blumenthal and Rita Redberg. Blumenthal argues that “there is a mountain of high-quality scientific evidence” to support the use of statins in people without known heart disease but “demonstrated to be at high risk […]
January 23rd, 2012
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Weekly Review: Week of January 23rd
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include bridging antiplatelet therapy in patients undergoing CABG, cognitive and neurologic outcomes after CABG, using IV beta-adrenergic agonists
during acute respiratory distress syndrome, and pulmonary embolism risk in those admitted to the hospital for an auto-immune disorder.
January 23rd, 2012
Drug-Eluting vs. Bare-Metal Stents, Using Instrumental Variable Analysis
David Cohen, MD MSc
David J. Cohen, the principal investigator of an observational PCI registry study of drug-eluting versus bare-metal stents, sheds light on a risk-adjustment technique called “instrumental variable analysis.” CardioExchange welcomes your thoughts on the value of this method and on the study it was used to elucidate. The Study Using data from a prospective observational PCI […]
January 20th, 2012
Subclinical Atrial Fibrillation and the Risk of Stroke: An Interview
Daniela J Lamas, MD and Gervasio Antonio Lamas, MD
A NEJM editorial fellow interviews a NEJM editorialist about subclinical AF and the risk of stroke.