CardioExchange Archive

April 20th, 2011

New WHI Analysis Links Calcium Supplements to CV Risk

Larry Husten, PHD

A new analysis may renew concerns that the combination of calcium supplements and vitamin D might increase cardiovascular risk. The link has been proposed before, but the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) found no additional risk. Now, however, in an article appearing in BMJ, Mark Bolland and colleagues point out that more than half the 36,000 […]

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April 18th, 2011

100 Is the New 150: AHA Lowers Optimal Triglyceride Level

Larry Husten, PHD

In a newly released scientific statement on triglycerides, the AHA recommends that 100 mg/dL replace 150 mg/dL as the upper limit for the “optimal level” for triglycerides. But, the statement acknowledges, the cut point should not be used as a therapeutic target for drug therapy, “because there is insufficient evidence that lowering triglyceride levels” can […]

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April 15th, 2011

Beyond Fellowship: Academia or Private Practice?

John Ryan, MD and Susan Cheng, MD

Published literature maintains that 20% of cardiology fellows continue into academic careers, with the remainder going into private practice. Fellowship Training Co-Moderator John Ryan, a second-year cardiology fellow in Chicago, and Associate Editor Susan Cheng, a fifth-year fellow in Boston, answer CardioExchange’s questions about the transition from fellowship to the next level – whatever that may […]

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April 15th, 2011

Harnessing the Power of the EMR for Clinical Research Recruiting

Peter B Berger, MD

The days of passively recruiting for outpatient clinical trials by having a research coordinator in a clinic manually review charts to determine which patients are eligible will soon be over. How soon is hard to tell, but institutions like Geisinger Medical Center in Pennsylvania, where I am Director of the Center for Clinical Studies (and […]

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April 15th, 2011

FDA Offers Cautious Support for Olmesartan (Benicar)

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA announced on Thursday that it had reviewed the results of the ROADMAP and ORIENT trials and had determined that the benefits of olmesartan (Benicar, Daiichi Sankyo) “continue to outweigh its potential risks” when used as indicated for the treatment of high blood pressure. In June 2010 the FDA had announced that it was […]

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April 13th, 2011

Increasing Disparity Found in Stroke Mortality in Europe and Central Asia

Larry Husten, PHD

The difference in stroke mortality among countries in Europe and Central Asia is large and, somewhat surprisingly, is growing larger, according to a new analysis of data from the World Health Organization. In a paper published online in the European Heart Journal, Josep Redon and colleagues examine recent 15-year trends from 39 countries. They report […]

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April 13th, 2011

Which Chest-Pain Patients in the ED Are “Low Risk”?

Martin Than, MBBS

CardioExchange welcomes Dr. Martin Than, lead author of the Lancet article on ASPECT, an observational study of a 2-hour diagnostic protocol to assess chest pain in the emergency department. CardioExchange’s Dr. James de Lemos asks Than about the nuances of the protocol. We welcome you to offer your own questions and opinions. Background: The accelerated […]

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April 12th, 2011

Two Studies Try to Improve Risk Prediction for Kidney Disease Progression

Larry Husten, PHD

Two papers presented at the World Congress of Nephrology and simultaneously published online in JAMA raise hope for better tools to calculate the risk for developing kidney failure, but the techniques are not yet ready for clinical use, according to an accompanying editorial. In the first study, Carmen Peralta and colleagues evaluated a triple-marker strategy […]

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April 11th, 2011

Phentermine-Topiramate Combination Yields Significant Weight Loss

Larry Husten, PHD

The experimental diet drug combination of phentermine and topiramate demonstrated “robust efficacy” in  CONQUER, a large new trial published online in the Lancet. The trial’s results come after a year in which the FDA turned down three investigational diet drugs (including Qnexa, the phentermine-topiramate combination used here) and removed the diet drug sibutramine from the […]

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April 10th, 2011

Questioning the Guidelines

scottwright109 and Hansie Mathelier, MD

CardioExchange welcomes R Scott Wright, the chair of the recently published focused update of the ACC/AHA Unstable Angina/NSTEMI guidelines. Dr. Wright generously agreed to answer questions about the guidelines posed by the CardioExchange editors. CardioExchange Editors: For clinicians reading this guidelines update, what would you highlight as the most important new or revised recommendations that […]

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