CardioExchange Archive

December 15th, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: AHA Releases Update of Heart and Stroke Statistics

Larry Husten, PHD

Once again, statistics on the cardiovascular health of the United States portray a complicated picture of improvement and decline. On the one hand, deaths from cardiovascular disease continue to decline. On the other hand, ominous trends, many stemming from the increase in obesity, suggest that the good news may not last much longer. The full […]

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December 12th, 2011

Large Analysis Confirms Safety of ADHD Medications

Larry Husten, PHD

The cardiovascular safety of ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) drugs has been uncertain. Now a large new study published online in JAMA provides reassurance that the drugs are safe. Laurel Habel and colleagues analyzed data from more than 440,000 adults, including 150,359 users of ADHD medications, and matched nonusers and found “no evidence of an increased risk […]

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December 8th, 2011

How Randomness Affects Quality of Care

John E Brush, MD

Each month I meet with administrators at my hospital to review the quality of our cardiology program. My administrators don’t want excuses. They aim for perfection. But a discussion at our last meeting about door-to-balloon times for STEMI patients changed their minds.

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December 7th, 2011

CV Risk of Prostate Cancer Therapy Underappreciated

Larry Husten, PHD

Androgen suppression therapy (AST) for prostate cancer may be a serious risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) disease, according to a Viewpoint published online in Heart. The scope of the problem is widely underappreciated and is rarely considered in clinical practice, write Liam Bourke and colleagues. The subject was also the topic of a 2010 scientific statement from the American Heart […]

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December 6th, 2011

Change in Fitness Appears More Important Than BMI Over Time

Larry Husten, PHD

Experts have been debating the relative roles of obesity and fitness in cardiovascular risk. Now a new report from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, published in Circulation, finds that maintaining or improving cardiorespiratory fitness significantly lowers CV mortality irrespective of changes in BMI. Duck-chul Lee and colleagues followed 14,435 men for 11.4 years. Compared with […]

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December 5th, 2011

CMS Tightening the Screws on Unnecessary Procedures in Florida and 10 Other States

Larry Husten, PHD

After years of criticism that it has paid billions of dollars for unnecessary procedures, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon ramp up efforts to rein in costs for unnecessary procedures. In 2012, CMS will perform an audit before paying for several big ticket cardiology and orthopedic procedures in certain key states. The news has […]

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December 2nd, 2011

Follow the Fellows: Which Program Is Right for Me?

Erica Sarah Spatz, MD, MHS, Kathryn Jesseca Lindley, MD, William Kent Cornwell, MD and Aaron C. Earles, DO

For our new series at CardioExchange, “Follow the Fellows,” we have invited physicians from various cardiology fellowship programs to document their course through their training. In this post, the fellows describe how they chose their fellowship programs. You can read their earlier posts here and here.   A Long and Winding Road by Erica Spatz, […]

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November 30th, 2011

Should FedEx Be in Charge of Primary PCI?

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD

Federal Express built its business on being a leader in transportation and delivering on time.  Perhaps the results of primary PCI in the U.S. would be better if FedEx ran the program. In patients with acute MI who must be transferred to another hospital for primary PCI, experts agree that the door-in to door-out (so […]

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November 22nd, 2011

Merck Pleads Guilty and Pays $950 Million for Illegal Promotion of Vioxx

Larry Husten, PHD

The US Department of Justice announced today that Merck, Sharp & Dohme will plead guilty to illegal promotion of Vioxx (rofecoxib) and will pay a $950 million in fines and penalties to the US government and individual states.

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November 21st, 2011

Prominent Dutch Cardiovascular Researcher Fired for Scientific Misconduct

Larry Husten, PHD

UPDATE (Posted Monday, November 21): Over the weekend more details emerged about this story. An executive summary of the report from the investigative committee at Erasmus MC, dated November 16, appeared on the Erasmus website. Here is a brief summary, based on help received from Google Translate, Babel Fish, and native Dutch speakers: As previously […]

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