CardioExchange Archive

November 17th, 2009

At the AHA:  Lifetime Risk for SCD Higher in Men and Blacks

Larry Husten, PHD

Dr. Don Lloyd-Jones presented findings from a study of the ARIC, Cardiovascular Health Study, and Framingham cohorts on lifetime risk for sudden cardiac death.  In addition to established cardiovascular risk factors, male sex and black race in men were associated with significantly increased risk.  Overall lifetime risks were relatively high, including 1 in 8 for […]

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November 17th, 2009

At the AHA:  A Challenge To Uptitrate Losartan in Heart Failure

Larry Husten, PHD

During Tuesday morning’s Late-Breaking Clinical Trials session, investigators presented results of the HEALL trial.  In this study, 3,846 patients with NYHA II-IV heart failure and LVEF ≤40% were randomized to losartan 150 mg versus 50 mg daily.  Over a median follow-up period of 4.7 years, patients in the higher-dose losartan arm had a significantly reduce […]

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November 17th, 2009

At the AHA:  Primary PCI for STEMI At Hospitals With or Without Back-Up Cardiac Surgery

Larry Husten, PHD

At the Monday morning Late-Breaking Clinical Trials Session, Dr. Ather Anis presented results of a Massachusetts-based study designed to compare outcomes for patients receiving primary PCI for STEMI at hospitals with versus without on-site cardiac surgery.  At 30 days, recurrent MI and need for revascularization were more common for patients at a hospitals without on-site […]

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November 17th, 2009

At the AHA: Antiplatelet Therapy Following CABG

Larry Husten, PHD

During the Monday afternoon Late-Breaking Clinical Trials session, results of the CASCADE (Clopidogrel After Surgery For Coronary Artery Disease) trial were presented.  The investigators randomized 113 CABG patients to aspirin plus clopidogrel versus aspirin alone.  By 1 year of follow-up, there was no significant difference in the primary endpoint of vein graft intimal area or in the secondary […]

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November 17th, 2009

At the AHA: Battling Depression Following CABG

Larry Husten, PHD

During Monday afternoon’s Late-Breaking Clinical Trials Sessions, results from the Bypassing the Blues trial were reported and simultaneously published in JAMA.  In this study, 453 patients with and without post-CABG depression were followed for 8 months.  Among patients with depression, a telephone-delivered collaborative care intervention improved quality of life, physical functioning, and mood symptoms.

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November 16th, 2009

At the AHA: Platelet Function Tests in Practice

Larry Husten, PHD

At the Sunday afternoon Late-Breaking Clinical Trial sessions, results from the POPULAR study were presented.  Among 1,069 patients treated with aspirin and clopidogrel at the time of PCI with stent implantation, several platelet reactivity tests were assessed in their ability to predict ischemic and bleeding outcomes.  Only three of six tests (LTA, VerifyNow, and Plateletworks) […]

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November 16th, 2009

At the AHA: Ticagrelor in STEMI

Larry Husten, PHD

During the Sunday afternoon Late-Breaking Clinical Trials session, the PLATO investigators presented results from a sub-analysis of the 8,430 patients who presented with STEMI in the main trial.  They reported that the reversible oral P2Y12-receptor antagonist, ticagrelor, was associated with reduction in the composite endpoint of MI, stroke, or vascular death when compared to clopidogrel […]

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November 14th, 2009

At the AHA:  Early Data on Trans-Catheter Aortic Valve Implantations

Larry Husten, PHD

At the Saturday afternoon Late-Breaking Interventional Clinical Science session, Dr. Helene Eltchaininoff presented early results on outcomes following trans-catheter aortic valve implantations peformed in 244 patients in the French Multicenter Registry.  Overall 30-day mortality was 12.7% and incidence of vascular access related complications was 6.5%.  The outcomes results are comparable to the recently reported experience of a Canadian group that performed […]

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November 13th, 2009

AHA, ACC expand two hospital-based CVD initiatives to outpatient care

Larry Husten, PHD

The AHA and the ACC are now collecting data from physicians’ regular office visits with patients as part of a new push to improve the quality of cardiovascular patient care, reports the Wall Street Journal. The new initiatives hope to expand on the successes of the AHA’s “Get With the Guidelines” hospital program and the […]

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November 12th, 2009

No Clinical Benefits of Revascularization in Atherosclerotic Renal Arteries

Larry Husten, PHD

Revascularization for atherosclerotic renovascular disease, performed in over 15% of such patients in the U.S., shows “no evidence of a worthwhile clinical benefit,” according to a New England Journal of Medicine study. The ASTRAL investigators studied outcomes in some 800 patients, half of whom had been randomized to undergo revascularization in addition to receiving usual medical […]

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