CardioExchange Archive

March 22nd, 2011

PROTECT Compares Unfractionated Heparin And Dalteparin In Critically Ill Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

ICU patients are at high risk to develop venous thromboembolism. Published in NEJM, PROTECT (the Prophylaxis for Thromboembolism in Critical Care Trial) compared the effects of the low-molecular-weight heparin dalteparin with unfractionated heparin (UFH) in 3746 critically ill patients. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the primary outcome of the trial. Proximal […]

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March 17th, 2011

Meta-Analysis Suggests Worse Outcomes For Rosiglitazone Compared To Pioglitazone

Larry Husten, PHD

There are no long-term trials directly comparing rosiglitazone and pioglitazone. In an article published in BMJ, Yoon Kong Loke and colleagues performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 observational studies with more than 800,000 thiazolidinedione users in an attempt to assess the relative cardiovascular effects of the two drugs. When compared with pioglitazone, rosiglitazone was […]

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March 17th, 2011

Small Study May Help Revive Hope for Stem Cell Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

Stem cell therapy may help reverse long-term damage after MI, according to a small, preliminary study by a group led by Joshua Hare published in Circulation: Research. Eight patients with LV dysfunction after MI received injections of autologous bone marrow progenitor cells in the LV scar and surrounding area. At one year, as assessed by […]

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March 15th, 2011

Quitting Smoking Shortly Before Surgery: Is It Safe?

Larry Husten, PHD

Quitting smoking soon before surgery is safe, according to a new meta-analysis published in Archives of Internal Medicine. In response to fears that people who stopped smoking within 8 weeks prior to surgery may have had worse outcomes, Katie Myers and colleagues analyzed data from 9 studies and found no association with postoperative complications. The authors […]

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March 14th, 2011

AHA Offers Qualified Endorsement of Weight-Loss Surgery

Larry Husten, PHD

For the first time, the AHA has offered a qualified endorsement of bariatric surgery. The scientific statement, published in Circulation, states that bariatric surgery is a relatively safe procedure that can lead to long-term weight loss and significantly improve health in appropriately selected obese patients who have been unable to lose weight nonsurgically. But, said Paul Poirier, […]

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March 10th, 2011

Obesity and Cardiovascular Risk: Does Size Matter?

Larry Husten, PHD

A very large new study finds that obesity — no matter how it is calculated — is not an important independent predictor of cardiovascular disease. A report from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration published online in the Lancet analyzed individual records from more than 220,000 people without known cardiovascular disease and found that none of the […]

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March 10th, 2011

Howard Bauchner to Replace Catherine DeAngelis as JAMA Editor

Larry Husten, PHD

The AMA announced today that Howard Bauchner will become the next editor-in-chief of JAMA. Bauchner will replace Catherine DeAngelis, who has been the editor for the past 11 years. Bauchner, a professor of pediatrics and community health sciences at Boston University Schools of Medicine, is currently the editor-in-chief of the Archives of Disease in Childhood. “I […]

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March 10th, 2011

Olmesartan Helps Prevent Microalbuminuria, But a Troubling Question Persists

Larry Husten, PHD

Olmesartan can help prevent progression to microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetics, according to results of the ROADMAP (Randomized Olmesartan and Diabetes Microalbuminuria Prevention) trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. But the positive result was partially offset by the troubling finding of a small but significant increase in fatal cardiovascular events. Type 2 diabetics […]

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March 9th, 2011

ACTIVE I Examines Role for Irbesartan in AF Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

The angiotensin-receptor blocker irbesartan does not significantly reduce cardiovascular events in patients with atrial fibrillation, according to the results of the Atrial Fibrillation Clopidogrel Trial with Irbesartan for Prevention of Vascular Events (ACTIVE I), published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Participants had been previously randomized in the ACTIVE A trial or the ACTIVE W trial. More than 9,000 […]

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March 8th, 2011

European Study Suggests HDL May Protect Against Colon Cancer

Larry Husten, PHD

In the largest study to date examining the relationship between lipids and colorectal cancer (CRC), a European study has found a strong inverse relationship between HDL cholesterol and colon cancer. Previous smaller studies investigating the relationship had been inconclusive. In a paper published in Gut, Fränzel JB van Duijnhoven and colleagues report on a nested case-control study […]

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