CardioExchange Archive

March 23rd, 2015

Putting PROMISE in Greater Context

Daniel Mark and Larry Husten, PHD

The PROMISE trial, which was presented and discussed in a Journal Club forum at ACC.15, prompted some interesting discussion when CardioExchange covered it as a news story on March 14. Dr. Daniel B. Mark, one of the PROMISE investigators, now sheds further light on the trial in response to questions from CardioExchange news writer Larry Husten. […]

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March 17th, 2015

ACP Recommends Against Screening Asymptomatic Adults for Cardiac Disease

The American College of Physicians has recommended that clinicians should not screen low-risk, asymptomatic adults for heart disease.

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March 9th, 2015

Appropriate Use Criteria for Diagnostic Catheterization are Weak

Larry Husten, PHD

Appropriate use criteria (AUC) are designed to help make sure that medical procedures and interventions are performed in patients most likely to benefit and, in turn, are not performed on people unlikely to gain benefit. Now a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that the AUC for one very widely performed procedure, diagnostic cardiac […]

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February 16th, 2015

Case: Rising Coronary Artery Calcium in a Patient Who Has a Normal Stress Echo with an Abnormal ECG

Ethan J Weiss, M.D.

A 74-year-old physically active man exercises daily, takes a statin for hyperlipidemia, and has no other risk factors aside from a mildly elevated hemoglobin A1c. His most recent lipid profile, in January 2015, was: Total-c: 144 mg/dL LDL-c: 84 mg/dL HDL-c: 48 mg/dL Triglycerides: 59 mg/dL His coronary artery calcium scores were 109.5 in the year […]

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November 4th, 2014

Nonobstructive Coronary Artery Disease Linked to Elevated Risk

Larry Husten, PHD

A large number of people who undergo elective coronary angiography are found to have nonobstructive coronary artery disease, and these patients have significantly increased risk for myocardial infarction and death, according to a retrospective study published in JAMA. Thomas Maddox and colleagues analyzed data from nearly 38,000 elective angiography patients in the VA health system. More than […]

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October 27th, 2014

Case: When an “Inappropriate” Stress Test Might Be Appropriate

Jean-Pierre Usdin, MD and James Fang, MD

Jean-Pierre Usdin presents the case of a 58-year-old man with well-treated hypertension who experiences an ST-segment-elevation MI shortly after a stress test he had requested to clear him for exercise.

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October 26th, 2014

Genetic Study Suggests Possible Causal Role for LDL in Aortic Valve Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

Although LDL is an important risk factor for aortic valve disease, the precise role it plays has been uncertain. Lipid-lowering therapy in people with established aortic valve disease has not been shown to be beneficial. Now, however, a new genetic study published in JAMA suggests that LDL cholesterol may in fact cause an increase in aortic […]

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October 20th, 2014

Are We Conducting Too Many Cardiac Stress Tests with Imaging?

Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD

Joseph A. Ladapo discusses his study of the use (and overuse) of cardiac stress testing in the United States.

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October 14th, 2014

Inappropriate Cardiac Stress Tests May Cost Half a Billion Dollars a Year

Larry Husten, PHD

Inappropriate cardiac stress tests may cost the U.S. healthcare system as much as half a billion dollars each year, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Joseph Ladapo and colleagues set out to analyze long-term trends in the use of cardiac stress testing in the U.S. Using data from national surveys, they found […]

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September 29th, 2014

American Heart Association: Pay More Attention to Radiation in Imaging Procedures

Larry Husten, PHD

The American Heart Association is urging physicians to better understand the risks of radiation in cardiac imaging procedures. When ordering these procedures physicians should understand the appropriate use of each procedure, the radiation dose associated with the procedure, and the risks associated with that dose. Both the risks and benefits should be fully explained and discussed […]

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