CardioExchange Archive

September 13th, 2010

SYNTAX at 3 years: CABG Still Winning, but PCI Acceptable in Low-Risk Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Three-year outcomes from the SYNTAX trial continue to show the overall superiority of CABG over PCI in patients with complex disease, but they leave room for the use of PCI in patients with low-risk disease. The results of the trial were presented by A. Pieter Kappetein at the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery annual meeting in Geneva, […]

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September 10th, 2010

Meta-Analysis Finds High Risk for Carotid Stenting in Older Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Carotid stenting should not be performed in patients age 70 years or older, according to the results of a new meta-analysis appearing in the Lancet. Researchers in the Carotid Stenting Trialists’ Collaboration combined data from 3433 patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis who were randomized to either endarterectomy or stenting in the EVA-3S, SPACE, and ICSS trials. At […]

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September 9th, 2010

Protective Effect of Education Only Occurs in High-Income Countries

Larry Husten, PHD

The well-known cardiovascular protective effect of education only occurs in high-income countries (HICs), according to a new report from the REACH registry appearing in Circulation. A striking finding was that highly educated women were more likely than their less educated counterparts to smoke in both affluent countries and less affluent countries. The authors point out that […]

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September 8th, 2010

New Therapy for a Rare Syndrome

Larry Husten, PHD

A team of French and Belgian investigators have found a promising new treatment for a rare inherited disorder that often leads to vascular dissection or rupture. In a report published online in the Lancet, Kim-Thanh Ong and colleagues compared the effect of celiprolol, a beta-blocker with beta-2 agonist properties, with placebo in 53 patients with […]

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September 8th, 2010

I’m an Awesome Doc!

drgrumpy and Larry Husten, PHD

CardioExchange welcomes this guest post, reprinted with permission, from  practicing neurologist “Dr. Grumpy.” The article originally appeared in his blog, Doctor Grumpy in the House. You’ve seen it, somewhere. Every city in America, and likely the world, has a local magazine. And once a year, that magazine publishes a “Best Docs” issue, usually listing 10 […]

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September 7th, 2010

Patients Still Overestimate Benefits of Elective PCI

Larry Husten, PHD

Patients who undergo elective PCI continue to overestimate the procedure’s benefits, according to a small study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Michael Rothberg and colleagues surveyed 153 patients and 27 cardiologists at a single academic center and found that 88% of the patients thought PCI would reduce their risk for MI and 82% […]

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September 7th, 2010

BMJ Papers Increase Pressure on Avandia

Larry Husten, PHD

A trio of papers in BMJ are turning up the heat on rosiglitazone (Avandia), prompting the editor-in-chief of the journal, Fiona Godlee, to say that she believes rosiglitazone “should not have been licensed and should now be withdrawn.” The detailed investigative report by BMJ features editor Deborah Cohen reviews the long and troubled history of rosiglitazone, […]

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September 1st, 2010

Clopidogrel and Aspirin Dosages Scrutinized in CURRENT-OASIS 7 Papers and Editorials

Larry Husten, PHD

In the CURRENT-OASIS 7 trial, more than 25,000 patients with ACS for whom an interventional strategy was planned were randomized to either double-dose clopdiogrel (a 600-mg loading dose on the first day followed by 150 mg daily for 6 days and 75 mg daily thereafter) or standard-dose clopidogrel (a 300-mg loading dose, followed by 75 mg […]

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September 1st, 2010

NEJM Editors Call for Removal of Sibutramine from U.S. Market

Larry Husten, PHD

Earlier this year, following the discovery of signals of potential danger in a large clinical trial, the weight loss drug sibutramine (Meridia) was withdrawn from the market in Europe while the FDA added a strongly worded contraindication to its use in people with cardiovascular disease. Now, 2 weeks before an FDA advisory panel will vote […]

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September 1st, 2010

Long-Term Effect of Intensive BP Control in Blacks

Larry Husten, PHD

The African-American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension (AASK) investigated the role of intensive blood-pressure control in slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease in black patients. In the previously reported results of the randomized portion of AASK, intensive BP control had no effect on the progression of CKD. Now the AASK Collaborative Research Group reports the […]

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