CardioExchange Archive

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending ACC.11 this week are blogging together on CardioExchange. The Fellows include Sandeep Mangalmurti, Hansie Mathelier, John Ryan (moderating and providing an outsider’s view from Chicago), Amit Shah, and Justin Vader. See the previous post in this series, and check back often to learn about the biggest buzz in New Orleans.

One of my biggest challenges in coming to conferences like ACC is figuring out how to handle the painful dilemma of choosing amongst 3-4 sessions that are being broadcast simultaneously. From talking to others, I’m not alone in this!

Nonetheless, one of the things I’ve appreciated here is the down-time that is given to actually attend posters between talks; in contrast, I never found the time to do it at AHA because of so many excellent talks going on throughout the day, with no breaks! This was really nice…

In the process of perusing a few of the posters, I came to really appreciate the great science they have to offer, but simultaneously lamented the fact that I only had time to check out a small percentage of them. Nonetheless, a few caught my eye…

One study, by Makani et al, showed results from a meta-analysis of dose-response relationship in anti-hypertensive therapy. It found that for most anti-hypertensives, except for ARB’s, the level of blood pressure control is not significantly different between high and low doses. A little surprising, but useful…perhaps the next time my patient is above goal, I should consider adding another class of medication, rather than the increasing dose of another medication?

Another poster I found interesting was the study of AMI hospitalizations before and after Hurricane Katrina by Hameed et al. Excellent timing, I thought. Not only did the study find a 3-fold increased prevalence of AMI amongst yearly hospitalizations after the hurricane, but it also found that many psychosocial factors, like joblessness, were more prevalent in the AMI victims after the hurricane. While the literature abounds on psychosocial risk factors and heart disease, I found this study unique and compelling. I think it’s always good to keep cardiologists around in times of natural disasters, superbowls, and NCAA championships! In response to the recent earthquake in Japan, perhaps we should be shipping statins and beta-blockers, in addition to food and water?

Many more interesting studies to discuss/report, but I’ll leave that for another time, or for any other contributors…feel free to share!

For more of our ACC.11 coverage of late-breaking clinical trials, interviews with the authors of the most important research, and blogs from our fellows on the most interesting presentations at the meeting, check out our Coverage Roundup.