CardioExchange Archive

August 5th, 2013

Poll: What Would You Recommend?

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA

Take the poll: What would you recommend for a patient who is about to undergo CABG for multivessel CAD and is found to have severe carotid stenosis?

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July 31st, 2013

European Heart Guidelines Based on Disgraced Research May Have Caused Thousands of Deaths

Larry Husten, PHD

Despite a 2-year-old scandal discrediting key evidence, current guidelines relying on this evidence have not been revised. As a result of physicians following these guidelines, some researchers say, it is possible that thousands of patients may have died each year in the U.K. alone. It is unlikely that a true understanding of the damage will […]

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July 29th, 2013

Sex and the Cardiac Patient Should Not be a Taboo Subject

Larry Husten, PHD

It’s not an easy conversation to have. After a heart attack or other major cardiac event, talking about sex is awkward, and often avoided by patients, their partners, and physicians. But a new consensus statement from several major cardiology organizations urges physicians to get over their reluctance or embarrassment and counsel their cardiac patients about […]

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July 25th, 2013

The Changing Landscape of Pulmonary Hypertension

John Ryan, MD

Two multicenter clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine explore the role of a new oral pulmonary vasodilator in pulmonary hypertension.

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July 15th, 2013

No Mortality Benefit for Surgery in Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis

Larry Husten, PHD

In the first five years after valve replacement approximately 3-6% of patients will develop prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). These patients are much more likely to die. Now a large observational study — the first of its type — has found that surgery is no better than medical therapy in reducing mortality in these patients. The report from the ICE-PCD […]

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July 15th, 2013

The Conundrum of Low-Gradient Severe Aortic Stenosis with Preserved LVEF

Thomas Marwick and John Ryan, MD

Thomas Marwick discusses his research group’s study of how patients who have severe aortic stenosis with low gradient and a preserved LV ejection fraction fare after aortic valve replacement.

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April 28th, 2013

Stories from a Heart Transplant Pioneer: Blogging from ISHLT 2013

William Kent Cornwell, MD

From the ISHLT meeting in Montreal, Bill Cornwell shares highlights of the plenary address from Jack G. Copeland, M.D., this year’s recipient of the Pioneer in Transplantation award.

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April 23rd, 2013

Study Suggests Benefit for Beta Blockers During Noncardiac Surgery

Larry Husten, PHD

The use of perioperative beta-blockade for noncardiac surgery has been declining as a result of the controversial POISE study, which turned up evidence for harm associated with extended-release metoprolol in this setting. Now a large new observational study published in JAMA offers a contrary perspective by suggesting that perioperative beta-blockade may be beneficial in low- […]

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March 21st, 2013

FDA Panel Gives Tepid Endorsement to Abbott’s MitraClip

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA’s Circulatory System Devices advisory panel gave a tepid endorsement to Abbott Laboratories’ MitraClip device on Wednesday. The panel met to evaluate use of the novel device in patients with significant symptomatic mitral regurgitation (MR) who  have been determined by a cardiac surgeon to be too high risk for open mitral valve surgery and in whom existing […]

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March 20th, 2013

Controversial PFO Closure Trials Published in NEJM

Larry Husten, PHD

Two controversial trials testing PFO closure in patients with cryptogenic stroke missed their primary endpoints but contained suggestions of possible benefit.

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