August 21st, 2014
The Niacin Controversy: What Do You Say to Your Patient?
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
In this scenario based on the HPS2-THRIVE study, Harlan Krumholz asks, “What do you say to your patient?”
August 19th, 2014
Increased Cardiac Risk Linked to Clarithromycin
Larry Husten, PHD
Acute use of the popular macrolide antibiotic clarithromycin has been linked to a small but significant increase in cardiac death. In a report in the BMJ, researchers in Denmark analyzed the effects over a 14-year period of the acute use of penicillin V, roxithromycin, and clarithromycin. Earlier research raised concerns that marcrolide antibiotics in general, and erythromycin and azithromycin […]
August 19th, 2014
Do Patients Really Have to Fast Before Lipid Testing?
Sripal Bangalore, MD, MHA
Harlan Krumholz interviews Sripal Bangalore about his research group’s study of the prognostic value of non-fasting lipid panels.
August 18th, 2014
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: August 18th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include the three sodium studies from NEJM, the CLARIFY study, and more.
August 18th, 2014
An Expert’s Perspective: Why Salt Is Not Like Tobacco and Why Guidelines Are Tricky
Larry Husten, PHD
At the center of this week’s renewed debate on salt was Salim Yusuf, the longtime influential and occasionally controversial cardiology researcher and clinical trialist based at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. I spoke with Yusuf before the publication of the New England Journal of Medicine papers, which include his own two papers from the PURE study. Yusuf was troubled […]
August 18th, 2014
New Analysis of Old Study Fuels Debate Over Blood Pressure Guidelines
Larry Husten, PHD
In the last year new guidelines relating to cardiovascular disease have been the subject of intense criticism and debate. The status of the blood pressure guidelines has been particularly contentious, since several different groups have published contradictory guidelines, while several authors of the most prominent group, the Eighth Joint National Committee, published an impassioned dissent […]
August 18th, 2014
Radial Access for PCI in Women: A Registry-Based Randomized Trial
Sunil Rao, MD, Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM and John Ryan, MD
Harlan Krumholz and John Ryan interview Sunil Rao, lead author of SAFE-PCI for Women, a registry-based randomized trial of a radial versus a femoral approach to PCI.
August 18th, 2014
Disparities in Healthcare: Young Women Continue to Fare Worse than Men after an AMI
Aakriti Gupta, MD
Dr. Aakriti Gupta confronts the necessity to continue to spread awareness of the risk of AMI to young women in her analysis of the findings from her recent study on the subject.
August 18th, 2014
Advice on Implementing the New Cholesterol Guidelines
Sidney C. Smith, MD
CardioExchange’s Harlan M. Krumholz interviews Sidney C. Smith, coauthor of a new article, published in JACC, that reviews the major findings and recommendations of the 2013 cholesterol guidelines, as well as the recommendations’ implications for risk assessment, LDL lowering, and statin use. Krumholz: How have the new guidelines changed your practice? Smith: The new focus on […]
August 14th, 2014
The CardioMEMS HF System: What Do You Say to Your Patient?
John Ryan, MD
In this scenario based on a patient’s question about the CardioMEMS device, John Ryan asks, “What do you say to your patient?”