CardioExchange Archive

July 28th, 2010

The Joys of Teaching

Andrew M. Kates, MD

I enjoy my job as a fellowship director for many reasons. One of the best is the excitement I get to share each year on the new fellows’ first day: The enthusiasm that a fresh group of trainees brings into a program is magical. The regular infusion of new blood into training programs distinguishes academic […]

---

July 27th, 2010

CABG in the Real World

Larry Husten, PHD

Two studies in Archives of Internal Medicine look at different aspects of CABG in the real world. Auerbach and colleagues analyzed data from more than 80,000 CABG patients and found that quality can be improved and costs reduced by directing patients away from low-volume surgeons and hospitals in favor of higher-volume surgeons and hospitals. However, […]

---

July 26th, 2010

Questions for Sanjay Kaul about TIDE and Avandia

Sanjay Kaul, MD and Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

CardioExchange’s editor-in-chief Harlan Krumholz discussed the TIDE trial on email with Sanjay Kaul, who was a member of the FDA’s advisory panel last week on Avandia. Here is a lightly edited version of their exchange. Krumholz: What is your response to the FDA announcement that it has placed TIDE on a “partial clinical hold”? Do […]

---

July 23rd, 2010

FDA Approves Generic Enoxaparin

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA announced on Friday that it had approved the first generic enoxaparin sodium injection for multiple indications including prevention of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The action represents the FDA’s first generic approval of a low molecular weight heparin. The original version of enoxaparin, Lovenox, was first approved in 1993. To gain approval as a generic, […]

---

July 23rd, 2010

Radiation Exposure in Cardiac Imaging

Jersey Chen, MD MPH

CardioExchange welcomes Jersey Chen to discuss his recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology , which describes radiation exposure from cardiac imaging procedures in the general population. Chen and his colleagues concluded that “cardiac imaging procedures lead to substantial radiation exposure and effective doses for many patients in the U.S.” Your […]

---

July 22nd, 2010

HDL and Residual Risk: A Surprising Finding in JUPITER

Larry Husten, PHD

CardioExchange welcomes Dr. Paul Ridker to answer questions about his recent paper in the Lancet, which analyzed data from JUPITER and found that HDL may not predict residual risk in patients on high-dose statins who reach very low LDL levels such as those achieved in the treatment group in JUPITER. The findings may surprise some readers, though […]

---

July 22nd, 2010

Lessons Learned from 2 Avandia Panels

Larry Husten, PHD

In a perspective published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, Clifford Rosen, who was the chair of the 2007 FDA Advisory Panel that allowed rosiglitazone (Avandia) to remain on the market and also a member of the panel that met last week, writes about “lessons learned” from the extraordinary series of events involving […]

---

July 21st, 2010

FDA Halts New Enrollment in TIDE

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA has halted new enrollment in TIDE (Thiazolidinedione Intervention with Vitamin D Evaluation), the controversial Avandia safety study, by placing the study on “partial clinical hold.” Patients already enrolled in the trial will continue to participate. The FDA said in a statement that it had instructed GlaxoSmithKline to “update investigators, institutional review boards (IRBs) and ethics committees […]

---

July 21st, 2010

Thoughts from a First-Year Fellowship Survivor

Shane LaRue, MD

Incoming fellows: Surely you’ve already been inundated with advice. People have their little tidbits of wisdom that they think you must know as you start your fellowship. Some tidbits are true and useful; others — well, not so much. Unfortunately, it is not always obvious which is which. As one who has just finished his […]

---

July 20th, 2010

Avandia Panelist Received Money from GSK

Larry Husten, PHD

One of the voting members of last week’s controversial Avandia panel received speaking fees from GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of Avandia, according to news reports in the Wall Street Journal and Pharmalot. The FDA had previously said that there were no relevant conflicts for any of the 33 voting members of the panel. David Capuzzi, an endocrinologist at […]

---