March 23rd, 2012
Early Morning, Early Start to ACC
Megan Coylewright, MD MPH
One of five Cardiology Fellows blogging at ACC.12 hits the ground running, early on Friday.
March 22nd, 2012
Large Meta-Analysis Finds Very Low Thrombosis Rates for Xience Stent
Larry Husten, PHD
A large new meta-analysis published in the Lancet provides the best evidence yet that the cobalt-chromium everolimus eluting (CoCr-EES) stents (Xience and Promus) have a significantly lower rate of stent thrombosis than bare-metal stents (BMS) and other drug-eluting stents (DES). Tullio Palmerini and colleagues analyzed data from 49 randomized trials comparing different stents in more than 50,000 patients. Odds […]
March 22nd, 2012
Promising Phase 1 Results for New Monoclonal Antibody to PCSK9
Larry Husten, PHD
Promising results from very early studies with an experimental new cholesterol-lowering drug, a monoclonal antibody to PCSK9, have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Evan Stein and colleagues report the results of two single-dose studies in which the drug, REGN727, was administered intravenously or subcutaneously to healthy subjects. In a third, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging trial, […]
March 22nd, 2012
ACC 2012 at Chicago: Hosting the World
John Ryan, MD
Chicago is a wonderful city for meetings, and the ACC should be a great learning experience. Here’s how to get the most out of the experience.
March 22nd, 2012
Uncertainty Over the Clinical Importance of the Diabetes Risk of Diuretics and Statins
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
With all of the hullaballoo about statins and diabetes last week I wanted to point out a paper that was published online this week in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. This study examined the long-term effects of incident diabetes on cardiovascular outcomes in patients enrolled in ALLHAT. As you may remember, this trial included more […]
March 20th, 2012
Meta-Analysis Adds New Evidence for Cancer Benefits of Daily Aspirin
Larry Husten, PHD
Although daily aspirin was originally proposed to reduce cardiovascular events, aspirin’s effects on cancer have become increasingly apparent while the vascular benefits, especially in primary prevention, have become less clear. Now a meta-analysis in the Lancet adds important new details to our understanding about the effects of aspirin and increases the evidence in support of a long-term beneficial […]
March 19th, 2012
Questions Raised About Antiplatelet Therapy in Chronic Kidney Disease
Larry Husten, PHD
Many people develop chronic kidney disease (CKD) as they grow older, and many people with CKD take antiplatelet agents to prevent cardiovascular events. However, the efficacy of antiplatelet therapy in CKD has not been examined, despite the fact that people with CKD are more likely to die from nonatherosclerotic conditions and are more likely to […]
March 19th, 2012
Merck Drops Development of Oral Vernakalant for Atrial Fibrillation
Larry Husten, PHD
Merck has discontinued its development of oral vernakalant for the long-term prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence. Cardiome Pharma, Merck’s partner in the drug, said today that the “decision was based on Merck’s assessment of the regulatory environment and projected development timeline.” Merck and Cardiome will continue their partnership with the intravenous formulation of vernakalant, […]
March 19th, 2012
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of March 19th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include percutaneous PFO closure and dabigatran risks.
March 16th, 2012
Helping Patients Understand the Statins Controversy
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
After the Topol op-ed in the New York Times last week I began to get a lot of inquiries about the safety of statins. At the beginning of his piece he emphasizes that our use of statins could cause a “sharp increase in the incidence of Type 2 diabetes.” At the end, he states emphatically that “the […]