CardioExchange Archive

March 27th, 2012

What to Do When Federal Investigators Knock on the Door

Larry Husten, PHD

For more than a year, the federal investigation of hospitals suspected of improperly implanting ICDs has been the subject of considerable rumor and speculation. Now, two cardiologists who were involved in a federal audit at one hospital have published a detailed account of their experience. Jonathan Steinberg and Suneet Mittal are Columbia University-affiliated electrophysiologists who also […]

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March 27th, 2012

ASCERT Observational Study Finds Long-Term Advantage for CABG over PCI in High-Risk Cases

Larry Husten, PHD

A very large observational study finds that long-term mortality in high-risk patients is lower after bypass surgery than after PCI. The results, which were first revealed in January at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), were presented in final form at the American College of Cardiology by William Weintraub and published simultaneously in the New England […]

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March 26th, 2012

Rivaroxaban Found Safe and Effective for Pulmonary Embolism

Larry Husten, PHD

In recent years rivaroxaban has been found to be effective in the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after orthopedic surgery, for the prevention of stroke in AF patients, and as additional therapy to conventional antiplatelet therapy in ACS patients. Now, a study presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago and published simultaneously in […]

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March 26th, 2012

Bariatric Surgery Turns Back the Clock on Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

Two new randomized trials offer evidence that bariatric surgery is highly effective in obese patients with diabetes. The results, according to Paul Zimmet and K. George M.M. Alberti, writing in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, “are likely to have a major effect on future diabetes treatment.” In the STAMPEDE trial, which was presented at […]

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March 26th, 2012

PARTNER: TAVR Results Appear Durable at 2 Years

Larry Husten, PHD

Two-year results of the influential PARTNER trial provide continued support for the growing acceptance of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in clinical practice. Previously, results of PARTNER at 1 year had demonstrated similar mortality in high-risk patients with aortic stenosis who underwent TAVR or surgery. Now, the 2-year results have been presented at the American College of Cardiology […]

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March 26th, 2012

CT Angiography to Rule Out CAD in Chest-Pain Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Each year, 6 million people in the U.S. arrive at the emergency department (ED) with acute chest pain. Although only 10% to 15% of them turn out to have an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), most are admitted to the hospital. Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has been proposed as a good method to quickly establish the presence […]

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March 25th, 2012

Eric Peterson to Succeed Bob Harrington as Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute

Larry Husten, PHD

The Duke Clinical Research Institute has announced that its new director will be Eric Peterson. The DCRI was founded by Robert Califf, who, as the director of the Duke Translational Medicine Institute (DTMI), will be Peterson’s boss. The DCRI’s second director, Robert Harrington, announced earlier this year that he was leaving Duke to become the chairman of the department of medicine […]

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March 25th, 2012

Study Supports PCI Without On-Site Surgical Backup

Larry Husten, PHD

Here’s a great example of genuine medical progress: 10% of the first 50 patients who received balloon angioplasty from the procedure’s developer, Andreas Grüntzig, required emergency bypass surgery. By 2002 only 0.15% of PCI patients required emergency surgery, leading many to believe that surgical backup was no longer necessary. Now a large new study provides strong […]

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March 24th, 2012

Novel Antiplatelet Agent Reduces CV Events But Increases Bleeding

Larry Husten, PHD

Vorapaxar, the novel antiplatelet agent from Merck, appears to effectively reduce cardiovascular death and ischemic events in patients with MI, ischemic stroke, or peripheral vascular disease, but its potential utility is clouded by bleeding complications, including intracranial hemorrhage. Results from the TRA 2P-TIMI 50 (Thrombin Receptor Antagonist in Secondary Prevention of Atherothrombotic Ischemic Events) trial were presented […]

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March 22nd, 2012

Large Meta-Analysis Finds Very Low Thrombosis Rates for Xience Stent

Larry Husten, PHD

A large new meta-analysis published in the Lancet provides the best evidence yet that the cobalt-chromium everolimus eluting (CoCr-EES) stents (Xience and Promus) have a significantly lower rate of stent thrombosis than bare-metal stents (BMS) and other drug-eluting stents (DES). Tullio Palmerini and colleagues analyzed data from 49 randomized trials comparing different stents in more than 50,000 patients. Odds ratios for 1-year […]

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