CardioExchange Archive

February 7th, 2011

The Fellowship Training Blog Moves Into the Trenches

James De Lemos, MD

Andy and I would like to formally welcome John Ryan, who is a second year fellow at the University of Chicago Medical Center, to the Fellowship Training blog at CardioExchange. John has already made several contributions to the blog. Many of you will remember his blogs at the AHA meeting, where he introduced us to […]

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February 3rd, 2011

How to Question the Research Question

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

Another good paper for a journal club recently appeared in JAMA. What makes this one worth discussing is the research question the investigators posed and how they addressed it. Although this is not focused on cardiac care, the issues are germane to literature in our field and cardiac care certification is also spreading. The article, titled […]

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January 31st, 2011

Learning to Network/Networking to Learn

John Ryan, MD

Last weekend, I attended a heart failure meeting in Florida. It was designed as a small meeting where fellows interested in heart failure got the opportunity to meet with heart failure faculty from across the country. The meeting provided various teaching seminars as well as one-on-one meetings and workshops. It was a unique experience that […]

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January 28th, 2011

She Doesn’t Mind that Her Heart Races … Do You?

Alfonso E. Sierra, MD and James Fang, MD

This latest installment in our case discussion series is submitted by Alfonso E. Sierra, MD. We encourage members to submit cases that they believe warrant discussion. Selected cases will be presented to the community, and case authors will receive a $100 Amazon gift card. A 62-year-old woman comes in for a routine exam, with a […]

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January 27th, 2011

HPS Results Suggest Baseline CRP Doesn’t Predict Statin Efficacy

Larry Husten, PHD

Analysis of data from the Heart Protection Study (HPS) indicates that a CRP measurement obtained at baseline does not predict the effect of statin therapy. In a paper published online in the Lancet, the HPS Collaborative Group report the results of the more than 20,000-patient HPS study based on CRP category at baseline. As previously reported, […]

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January 27th, 2011

Shockable Arrhythmias Less Frequent in the Home

Larry Husten, PHD

Cardiac arrest with a shockable arrhythmia (VF or pulseless VT) is less likely to occur at home than in public, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Myron Weisfeldt and investigators from the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) Investigators evaluated nearly 13,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and found that shockable arrhythmias occurred more […]

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January 27th, 2011

End of an Era: Eugene Braunwald Steps Down, Marc Sabatine Assumes Chair of TIMI Group

Larry Husten, PHD

Marc Sabatine has replaced Eugene Braunwald as the chairman of the TIMI study group. Braunwald, who has been the dominant figure in cardiology for many decades, is 81. Sabatine was appointed Vice Chairman of the TIMI group last summer and he assumed the chairman’s role on January 1. Braunwald is not retiring and will continue […]

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January 24th, 2011

Poor Justification for Compulsory Angiography Before Vascular Surgery

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

I recently heard a physician quote a paper from JACC to justify pursuing revascularization in an asymptomatic patient who was scheduled for major vascular surgery. This article is worth a close look in your journal club, even though it was published in 2009. In their discussion, the authors summarize their findings as follows: “For patients […]

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January 24th, 2011

AHA Estimates Cost of Heart Disease Will Triple by 2030

Larry Husten, PHD

The American Heart Association (AHA) is projecting that the cost to treat heart disease in the U.S. will triple by 2030, from $273 billion today to $818 billion. The AHA policy statement is published in Circulation. The AHA estimates that the incidence of stroke and heart failure will each  grow by about 25% by 2030. “These estimates […]

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January 21st, 2011

To Arms! Or, Maybe Not?

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

According to a recently published opinion piece in a British cardiology journal, enthusiasm for the transradial approach over the femoral approach in primary PCI is not justified. The authors cite numerous problems with the radial approach compared with the femoral approach (i.e., up to a 10% crossover rate, prolonged procedure time, increased radiation exposure for the patient and […]

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