{"id":33652,"date":"2012-12-17T16:38:49","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T21:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/?post_type=voices&p=33652"},"modified":"2012-12-17T16:38:49","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T21:38:49","slug":"selections-from-richard-lehmans-literature-review-december-17th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/2012\/12\/17\/selections-from-richard-lehmans-literature-review-december-17th\/","title":{"rendered":"Selections from Richard Lehman\u2019s Literature Review: December 17th"},"content":{"rendered":"

CardioExchange is pleased to reprint selections from Dr. Richard Lehman\u2019s\u00a0weekly journal review blog<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0BMJ.com<\/a>. Selected summaries are relevant to our audience, but we encourage members to engage with the\u00a0entire blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

JAMA\u00a0 12 Dec 2012\u00a0 Vol 308<\/strong><\/p>\n

The POSEIDON Randomized Trial (pg. 2369):<\/strong>\u00a0 How is the mighty sea-god insulted! POSEIDON stands for A Phase I\/II, Randomized Pilot Study of the Comparative Safety and Efficacy of Transendocardial Injection of Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells Versus Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Patients With Chronic Ischemic Left Ventricular Dysfunction Secondary to Myocardial Infarction. If I were Poseidon, I would rise up from the ocean and impale the authors of this study<\/a> with my trident for their acronym alone. I would mount upon my hippocampus (meaning a horse with a finny tail) and cause sea-monsters to devour them because they don\u2019t describe any patient-important end-points in their study. I would raise storms to destroy their ships because they use the silly term \u201cischaemic cardiomyopathy\u201d to describe local damage and fibrosis caused by myocardial infarction. And I would send serpents to bite the editors of JAMA for publishing yet another study of stem cell treatment for heart failure that is of minor technical interest only: autologous cells gave slightly better physiological outcomes and graft success than allogeneic cells, but the patients involved cannot have noticed any difference. Wake me up when there is a stem cell treatment that helps people with heart failure in real life: I have read enough of these little short-term studies over the last ten years. Know that I am Poseidon and I shall smite you.<\/p>\n

Effect of Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cell Delivery on LV Function After Acute MI (pg. 2380):<\/strong> And here\u2019s another trial <\/a>of bone marrow mononuclear cells to repair myocardium: this time they were autologous cells given either 3 or 7 days after acute myocardial infarction via coronary arteries. Again, no patient-detectable end points were measured: the primary end points were change in global (LVEF) and regional (wall motion) left ventricular function in infarct and border zones at 6 months measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. \u201cAmong patients with STEMI treated with primary PCI, the administration of intracoronary BMCs at either 3 days or 7 days after the event had no significant effect on recovery of global or regional left ventricular function compared with placebo.\u201d So away with you! Know that I am Poseidon and I shall smite you!<\/p>\n

NEJM\u00a0 13 Dec 2012\u00a0 Vol 367<\/strong><\/p>\n

ICD Programming to Reduce Inappropriate Therapy and Mortality (pg 2275):<\/strong> People with heart failure can die in three ways: (1) suddenly without warning, (2) by slow drowning, or (3) from something else. If I had heart failure, I would particularly want to avoid the second option, but implantable cardioverter defibrillators are specifically designed to move you from option one to option two. Whether to have an ICD is a very difficult decision to share with patients, because it means taking them to horrible places they can scarcely imagine. As doctors we have seen lots of people die from pulmonary oedema: would you want to show a patient a video of that? Or of someone undergoing repeated electric shocks from an implantable device? I know there are several centres developing shared decision aids for ICD placement, and I\u2019ll be interested to see what they come up with. There is a glimmer of reassurance from the trial described here<\/a>, which shows a better way to programme these devices: \u201cProgramming of ICD therapies for tachyarrhythmias of 200 beats per minute or higher or with a prolonged delay in therapy at 170 beats per minute or higher, as compared with conventional programming, was associated with reductions in inappropriate therapy and all-cause mortality during long-term follow-up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultrafiltration in Decompensated HF with Cardiorenal Syndrome (pg. 2296):<\/strong> In the USA, Gambro sell something called Aquadex System 100 (CHF Solutions) specifically for use in fluid overload, which is supposed to be the answer when diuretic therapy appears to fail. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in the USA tested this claim in a trial involving 188 patients<\/a> hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure, worsened renal function, and persistent congestion who were randomised to ultrafiltration or stepped pharmacologic treatment (i.e., more diuretics). The diuretics worked better and had fewer adverse effects. So will all the hospitals that bought these devices now throw them away? It would be interesting to find out in a year\u2019s time. And do the sales that Gambro achieved in the USA count as national wealth creation?<\/p>\n

Lancet\u00a0 15 Dec 2012\u00a0 Vol 380<\/strong><\/p>\n

Global Burden of Disease Study 2010:<\/strong> It is the season of goodwill, so I shall praise the Lancet<\/em> and quote Richard Horton at length. \u201cPublication of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010<\/a> (GBD 2010) is a landmark event for this journal and, we hope, for health. The collaboration of 486 scientists from 302 institutions in 50 countries has produced an important contribution to our understanding of present and future health priorities for countries and the global community.\u201d I agree. Might Elsevier do their little bit though, and remove the paywall in time for Christmas?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the headline findings? First, although 52\u20228 million deaths occurred in 2010 (in 1990, the figure was 46\u20225 million deaths), great progress is being made in population health. Life expectancies for men and women are increasing<\/a>. A greater proportion of deaths are taking place among people older than 70 years. The burdens of HIV and malaria are falling. Far fewer children younger than 5 years are dying. Infectious diseases are increasingly being controlled. In some parts of the world, there has been substantial progress in preventing premature deaths from heart disease and cancer.
\nBut this hopeful picture is being challenged by old and new threats. Huge gaps remain in progress for some regions of the world. Tuberculosis and malaria are estimated to have killed around 1\u20222 million people each in 2010. 8 million people died from cancer in 2010, over a third more deaths than 20 years ago. One in four deaths was from heart disease or stroke. 1\u20223 million deaths were due to diabetes. Deaths from road traffic injuries increased by almost half. Blood pressure is the biggest global risk factor for disease, followed by tobacco, alcohol, and poor diet. And young adults are emerging as a new and neglected priority in global health: GBD 2010 finds that young adults<\/a>, especially men, are dying in far higher numbers than previously appreciated. But the most afflicted continent remains Africa. Here, maternal, newborn, and child mortality, along with a broad array of vaccine-preventable and other communicable diseases, remain urgent concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

All great stuff. Though I don\u2019t understand the bit about alcohol, a potent protector against cardiac disease. So pull open that bottle of malt whisky, give the fire a prod, and slump back and pore over the charts and tables in this fascinating issue of the Lancet<\/em>. Assuming, of course, that you are a subscriber as well as an imbiber.<\/p>\n

BMJ\u00a0\u00a0 15 Dec 2012\u00a0 Vol 345<\/strong><\/p>\n

Diagnosis and Management of Supraventricular Tachycardia:<\/strong> Speaking of being unavailable to those who most need it, I am going to have another nag about the BMJ\u2019<\/em>s Clinical Review series. My complaint is that it has become the best and most practical guide to clinical practice regularly featured by any medical journal; it\u2019s ideal for an international readership and exactly the kind of learning and teaching material required in the developing world. This week\u2019s diagnosis and management of supraventricular tachycardia<\/a> is an excellent example. But in countries where the HINARI agreement doesn\u2019t hold, few practitioners will be able to benefit from it, and where HINARI does apply, they will need to go through a cumbersome procedure via an academic centre. Open access must come, even if not in time for Christmas.<\/p>\n

Arch Intern Med\u00a0 10 Dec 2012\u00a0 Vol 172<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fasting Time and Lipid Levels in a Community-Based Population (pg. 1707):<\/strong> If eating before having a blood test for lipid levels made much difference, you would expect there to be an overall increase in levels according to the time of the last meal. This cross-sectional study from Canada<\/a> could detect no such difference in samples from 200,000 individuals whose samples were taken in the community. One more piece of evidence that we should give up advising patients to fast before measuring their cholesterol, and let them have their blood taken at a time to suit them.<\/p>\n

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This week’s topics include a study on ICD programming to reduce inappropriate therapy and mortality, a clinical review of diagnosing and managing supraventricular tachycardia, the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":475,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1108,1598,1600,550,1559,287,1599,1602,324,740,1601,1552],"class_list":["post-33652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-acute-myocardial-infarction","tag-bone-marrow-mononuclear-cell-delivery","tag-cardiorenal-syndrome","tag-decompensated-heart-failure","tag-fasting","tag-heart-failure-2","tag-icd-programming","tag-lipid-levels","tag-lv-function","tag-stem-cell-therapy","tag-supraventricular-tachycardia","tag-ultrafiltration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/475"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}