CardioExchange Archive

April 6th, 2010

• Dronedarone Data Duel

Larry Husten, PHD

Dronedarone Data Duel: Two separate papers in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology offer starkly contrasting views on the role of dronedarone in clinical practice. In a viewpoint and commentary, David Singh and colleagues review the dronedarone data and conclude that although dronedarone “has the ability to control both rhythm and rate” in AF patients, […]

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April 5th, 2010

• Update on IMPROVE-IT
• Olympic Hearts

Larry Husten, PHD

Update on IMPROVE-IT: IMPROVE-IT is the much anticipated and highly controversial ongoing study evaluating ezetimibe. In response to the controversy over the drug (see, for example, here and here), and to address the questions that “have been raised about whether the trial will be completed,” the trial investigators have written an editorial that has now been published online […]

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April 1st, 2010

• Atrial Fibrillation and Dementia Linked
• Predicting Mortality after PCI

Larry Husten, PHD

Atrial Fibrillation and Dementia Linked: The aging of the population will be accompanied by inevitable increases in the incidence of diseases like dementia and atrial fibrillation (AF). Now an epidemiologic study of more than 37,000 consecutive patients from the Intermountain Heart Collaborative Study has found that AF is independently associated with all types of dementia. […]

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March 31st, 2010

New York Times Orbits JUPITER

Larry Husten, PHD

A front page story in Wednesday’s New York Times questions the expanding use of statins, and particularly rosuvastatin, in “healthy people.” Following the recent approval of broad new indications for the drug based on results from the JUPITER trial, Times reporter Duff Wilson notes that millions of people may now take the drug “largely as prevention” and that some […]

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March 30th, 2010

• FDA Issues Complete Response Letter For Certriad
• U.K.’s NICE Goes Easier on Dronedarone
• U.S. Justice Dep’t & SEC Look Into Boston Scientific ICD Recall

Larry Husten, PHD

FDA Issues Complete Response Letter For Certriad: The FDA issued a complete response letter for the NDA for Certriad, Abbot’s and AstraZeneca’s combination pill composed of rosuvastatin and fenofibric acid delayed release. The companies did not release any details of the letter, but analysts think it will mean the drug’s approval will likely be delayed […]

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March 29th, 2010

• Screening for Type 2 Diabetes
• FDA Cracks Down on Unapproved Nitroglycerin

Larry Husten, PHD

Screening for Type 2 Diabetes: Kahn et al. used a sophisticated computer model to assess the impact of 8 different screening strategies to detect type 2 diabetes in the US. The researchers concluded that screening is cost effective when started between the ages of 30 and 45 years of age, with screening repeated every 3–5 years. The […]

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March 25th, 2010

Study Finds Long-Term Problems with Alcohol Septal Ablation

Larry Husten, PHD

Although alcohol septal ablation (ASA) for the treatment of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is now gaining increasing acceptance in many parts of the world, a new study finds that it may cause more problems than traditional surgical myectomy. Investigators from the Netherlands, led by Patrick Serruys, studied 91 consecutive ASA patients and compared them to 40 consecutive […]

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March 24th, 2010

• Hospital Volume and Mortality
• Coronary Artery Fistula Closure

Larry Husten, PHD

Hospital Volume and Mortality: Using Medicare data, Ross et al. investigated the association between hospital volume and the 30-day death rate for patients admitted for acute MI, heart failure, and pneumonia. In their report in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers found that increased volume was associated with reduced rates of death for […]

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March 23rd, 2010

• High Blood Pressure in ICU Linked to Better Outcome
• Nissen and JAMA Editors Weigh In on Avandia
• Improving Informed Consent; Beta-Blocker Inventor Dies

Larry Husten, PHD

High Blood Pressure in ICU Linked to Better Outcome: Using data from nearly 120,000 patients admitted to the ICU for chest pain, Swedish investigators found, somewhat unexpectedly, that high systolic blood pressure at the time of admission was associated with improved outcome. The association remained evident even when patients with CHF or who went on to […]

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March 22nd, 2010

• AHA Scientific Statement on Medication Errors in Acute CV Medicine
• BNP-Guided HF Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

AHA Scientific Statement on Medication Errors in Acute CV Medicine: “Cardiovascular medications are the most common drug class associated with medication errors, and cardiovascular patients remain at high risk in the acute hospital phase, even with the current safety strategies,” said Andrew Michaels, chair of the writing committee for a new AHA scientific statement published […]

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