CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

February 23rd, 2010

Tuesday, February 23 News Roundup: Avandia Remains in the News; Dutch Study Questions Platelet Function Tests; IOM Report on Hypertension

Avandia Stays in the News: Responding to all the news last weekend about rosiglitazone (Avandia), the FDA announced an ongoing review of the cardiovascular safety of Avandia based on the RECORD trial and published a safety announcement along with additional information for patients and healthcare professionals. Adding even more drama to events, a New York Times story by Gardiner Harris tells how Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steve Nissen secretly recorded a meeting with GlaxoSmithKline executives in 2007, immediately prior to the publication of the NEJM meta-analysis that started the Avandia controversy.

Dutch Study Questions Platelet Function Tests: A study in JAMA from the Netherlands compared six platelet function tests in low-risk patients undergoing elective PCI. Three of the tests — light transmittance aggregometry, VerifyNow, and Plateletworks — were found to have “a modest ability” to predict outcomes. The authors say the study “does not support the use of platelet function testing to guide clinical practice in a low-risk population of patients undergoing elective PCI.”

IOM Report on Hypertension: The Institute of Medicine released a report on hypertension. Noting that nearly one-third of American adults have high blood pressure, the report calls for population-based strategies to reduce the incidence of this “neglected disease,” and says medical professionals need to do a better job in diagnosing and treating patients with hypertension.

Categories: General


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