CardioExchange Archive

PPIs & Clopidogrel– A retrospective analysis of 820 patients at the Washington Hospital Center who received clopidogrel after a drug-eluting stent implantation found more adverse events at one year among those who were also taking a proton pump inhibitor. The report by Gaglie et al appears online in the American Journal of Cardiology.Aspirin Underuse and Overuse– A new report by Cannon et al from the REACH registry appearing in the American Journal of Cardiology finds that about 25% of patients with vascular disease aren’t receiving aspirin, and 15% receive no antithrombotic therapy. On the other hand, an accompanying editorial by Luke Tapp, Eduard Shantsila, and Gregory YH Lip questions the value of using aspirin for primary prevention and wonders whether aspirin should “be reserved for those at highest cardiovascular risk.”New AF Ablation Trial– St Jude Medical announced today that it had received an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA for the IRASE AF (IRrigated Ablation System Evaluation for AF) trial, a multicenter, randomized, single-blind study evaluating the safety and efficacy of the company’s Duo 12 port open irrigated catheter ablation system for treatment of atrial fibrillation. The trial, according to St Jude, will be “the industry’s first and the largest head-to-head IDE trial studying irrigated ablation catheters, which use radiofrequency (RF) energy in a non-invasive procedure to destroy abnormal heart tissue. The trial will randomize patients 1:1 between the company’s Duo 12 port open irrigated catheter ablation system and an irrigated catheter ablation system that has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of paroxysmal AF.”  The study’s Principal Investigator is Andrea Natale.