CardioExchange Archive

May 27th, 2014

Choosing a Prosthetic Valve: What Do You Say to Your Patient?

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

In this scenario based on prosthetic valve choice, Harlan Krumholz asks, “What do you say to your patient?”

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April 15th, 2014

CoreValve Availability In U.S. Threatened By Court Decision

Larry Husten, PHD

A legal injunction may severely limit the availability in the United States of Medtronic’s CoreValve device, which only received FDA approval earlier this year. The device received abundant praise recently when a large clinical trial demonstrated substantial advantages for CoreValve over traditional open-heart surgery. The injunction is the latest episode in an ongoing patent war in which Edwards Lifesciences, which pioneered the […]

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March 29th, 2014

Survival Advantage for TAVR Over Surgery in High-Risk Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), which has been slowly and cautiously entering the clinical arena, will probably get a big boost from a new trial showing a significant mortality advtange for TAVR over traditional surgery. Results from the U.S. CoreValve High-Risk Study were presented at the American College of Cardiology in Washington, DC, and published simultaneously […]

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March 24th, 2014

ACC.14 Preview: Renal Denervation, TAVR Comparisons, and More

Larry Husten, PHD

The ACC begins this Saturday in Washington, DC. Here’s a preview of some of the most highly anticipated late-breaking clinical trials: On Saturday morning at the opening session the world will finally learn more about the failure of Symplicity HTN-3, the Medtronic trial of renal denervation. Until recently, renal denervation was thought to be an extremely […]

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March 13th, 2014

rAAA Patients More Likely to Get Surgery and Survive in the U.S. Than in England

Larry Husten, PHD

Patients with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) have better outcomes in the United States than in England according to a new study published in the Lancet. Researchers at the University of London compared hospital data from 11,799 rAAA patients in England with 23,838 rAAA patients in the U.S. They found that U.S. patients were more likely than […]

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March 13th, 2014

Achieving Consensus for the 2014 ACC/AHA Valvular Heart Disease Guideline

Catherine M. Otto, MD and Rick Akira Nishimura, MD

The writing committee co-chairs of the 2014 ACC/AHA Valvular Heart Disease Guideline discuss how the committee achieved consensus on the future treatment of valvular disease.

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March 11th, 2014

French Surgeons Perform First Totally Endoscopic Aortic Valve Replacement

Larry Husten, PHD

Surgeons in France report that they have performed the first totally endoscopic aortic valve replacement (TEAVR) in two human patients. Their paper has been published in the the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. The new procedure may enable surgeons to replace the aortic valve without opening the chest, though it will still require cardiopulmonary bypass and resection […]

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March 5th, 2014

4 Deaths Linked to Thoratec HeartMate II LVAS

Larry Husten, PHD

Thoratec Corporation on Tuesday issued an urgent safety advisory about a serious problem with a key component of the HeartMate II LVAS system. The company said four patients had died and five had a loss of consciousness or other symptoms of hypoperfusion. The episodes occurred when patients and caregivers “experienced difficulties with the process of changing from a […]

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March 3rd, 2014

New Guidelines Issued for Valvular Heart Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology today released new practice guidelines for the management of patients with valvular heart disease (VHD). Among its most notable features, the new document provides a new system of classification for VHD and lowers the threshold for interventions, including, for the first time, transcatheter as well […]

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February 27th, 2014

Tooth Extraction Prior to Cardiac Surgery May Not Be a Good Idea

Larry Husten, PHD

People with an infected or abscessed tooth are at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease. They are at particular risk for developing a serious infection during surgery, including endocarditis. Because of this risk, in order to reduce the risk of infection many patients undergo dental extraction prior to having a planned cardiac surgery. Now, however, a […]

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