October 31st, 2014
FDA Advisory Panel Gives Tepid Support to New Anticoagulant
Larry Husten, PHD
On Thursday the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-1 in favor of approval for Daiichi Sankyo’s edoxaban (Savaysa). The outcome will likely result in a drug that will be on the market, but that few physicians will prescribe until further studies are performed. Edoxaban will almost certainly become the fourth new oral anticoagulant (NOAC) […]
October 30th, 2014
Engineering Student Invents Flying Ambulance Drone to Deliver AED to SCA Patients
Larry Husten, PHD
Drones have been used to kill people in war zones and to spy on people. Now a sharp young engineering graduate student in the Netherlands has come up with an innovative new use for drones that might one day shorten the time to defibrillation for people with sudden cardiac arrest. Alec Momont, an engineering grad […]
October 30th, 2014
Aortic Valve Surgery for Nonagenarians
Larry Husten, PHD
As people continue to live longer physicians are increasingly confronted with very elderly patients who have serious conditions that might benefit from surgery but who are at high risk for surgical complications. In a paper published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, doctors at the Mayo Clinic reviewed their experience with 59 patients age 90 or […]
October 27th, 2014
Traditional CVD Risk Factors Mediate Between Lifestyle Factors and Cardiovascular Risk in Women
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
Nina Paynter discusses her case-cohort study comparing lifestyle-based with traditional cardiovascular disease prediction among women in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study.
October 27th, 2014
Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: October 27th
Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP
This week’s topics include behavioral counseling for those with CV risk factors, long-term outcomes after stenting vs. endarterectomy for treatment of symptomatic carotid stenosis, and more.
October 27th, 2014
Case: When an “Inappropriate” Stress Test Might Be Appropriate
Jean-Pierre Usdin, MD and James Fang, MD
Jean-Pierre Usdin presents the case of a 58-year-old man with well-treated hypertension who experiences an ST-segment-elevation MI shortly after a stress test he had requested to clear him for exercise.
October 26th, 2014
Genetic Study Suggests Possible Causal Role for LDL in Aortic Valve Disease
Larry Husten, PHD
Although LDL is an important risk factor for aortic valve disease, the precise role it plays has been uncertain. Lipid-lowering therapy in people with established aortic valve disease has not been shown to be beneficial. Now, however, a new genetic study published in JAMA suggests that LDL cholesterol may in fact cause an increase in aortic […]
October 23rd, 2014
The Survival Benefits of Physical Activity: Moderate vs. Vigorous Intensity
Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
Eric Shiroma discusses his research group’s study of the relative survival benefits of moderate- versus vigorous-intensity physical activity.
October 21st, 2014
Study Behind the Green Coffee Bean Diet Craze Retracted
Larry Husten, PHD
The “scientific” paper that helped ignite the green coffee bean diet craze has been retracted. The details of the retraction and the full background of the story were fully reported by Ivan Oransky on Retraction Watch. The paper, published in Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, purported to report the substantial weight loss findings of a […]
October 20th, 2014
Are Women Who Live Near Roadways at Greater Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death?
Jaime E Hart, Sc.D and Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
Jaime E. Hart discusses her study of the relation between residential proximity to roadways and sudden cardiac death in women.