CardioExchange Archive

May 7th, 2010

Bad News from Europe; Even Worse News for China

Larry Husten, PHD

Bad News from Europe; Even Worse News for China: Too many Europeans with coronary disease are not receiving evidence-based treatment, according to a report from the third EUROASPIRE survey. “The majority of coronary patients are not achieving blood pressure, lipid, and diabetes targets as defined in the Prevention Guidelines,” said investigator Dr Kornelia Kotseva, in […]

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May 6th, 2010

Large Genetic Study Sheds Light on Triglycerides’ Role in Heart Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

Large Genetic Study Sheds Light on Triglycerides’ Role in Heart Disease: A large new study appearing in the Lancet provides preliminary evidence that triglycerides may play a causative role in heart disease. Investigators in the Triglyceride Coronary Disease Genetics Consortium and Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration studied a promoter polymorphism of a gene (APOA5) tied to […]

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May 5th, 2010

• Second-Generation DES Superior to First-Generation DES
• 5-Year Outcomes for Left Main Stenting

Larry Husten, PHD

Second-Generation DES Superior to First-Generation DES: The industry-funded SPIRIT IV investigators randomized 3687 patients to receive either an everolimus-eluting stent (EES) or a paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES). Unlike many previous DES trials, patients did not undergo routine follow-up angiography, thereby avoiding potential bias created by the “oculostenotic reflex.” At 1 year, the primary endpoint — target-lesion failure (defined […]

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May 4th, 2010

• HF Readmission: See Me Now Or See Me Later
• No Reduction in MI Following Pneumococcal Vaccination

Larry Husten, PHD

HF Readmission: See Me Now Or See Me Later: After being hospitalized for heart failure (HF), patients who are treated at hospitals with higher rates of early follow-up have lower rates of readmission at 30 days, according to a new study appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Adrian Hernandez and colleagues analyzed […]

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May 3rd, 2010

• European Heart Journal Editors Defend Nissen Editorial
• The Straight Dope — HGH Improves Sprint Capacity

Larry Husten, PHD

European Heart Journal Editors Defend Nissen Editorial: In an editorial published online in the European Heart Journal, the editors of the journal defend the publication of an editorial by Steven Nissen on rosiglitazone. The editorial had been published online on February 12, prompting a GlaxoSmithKline executive to write the editors asking them not to publish […]

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May 3rd, 2010

(Mis)Information on Fenofibrate in the Clinic

Allan Brett, MD

Several days ago, I — a general internist — saw a 70 year old diabetic woman with coronary disease who was stented 3 years ago and has been asymptomatic since then. During our office visit, I noted that a nurse practitioner who does lipid management in her cardiologist’s practice had added fenofibrate to her statin just a week […]

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April 29th, 2010

Genomics Rubber Meets the Clinical Road

Larry Husten, PHD

Genomics Rubber Meets the Clinical Road: In a study without precedent, an asymptomatic 40-year-old man with a family history of coronary disease and sudden death received a comprehensive analysis of his full genome. According to the report in the Lancet, the investigators from Stanford and Massachusetts General Hospital found evidence that the man was at […]

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April 29th, 2010

Do Hospital Rankings Have Any Good Use?

ashsehgal and Larry Husten, PHD

Hospital rankings now play an increasingly important role in the healthcare marketplace. In no field is the power of these rankings felt more than in cardiology. Ashwini Sehgal, the first author of a recent report in Annals of Internal Medicine, “The Role of Reputation in U.S. News & World Report‘s Rankings of the Top 50 […]

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April 28th, 2010

The Acute Dangers of Insufficient Health Insurance

Kim G. Smolderen, PhD

We welcome Kim G. Smolderen, PhD, to answer our questions about her research group’s JAMA study “Health Care Insurance, Financial Concerns in Accessing Care, and Delays to Hospital Presentation in Acute Myocardial Infarction”  Among her coauthors were CardioExchange contributor Dr. Paul S. Chan—who participated in our exchange with Smolderen—and CardioExchange Editor Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz. We encourage […]

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April 28th, 2010

• Vitamin B May Be Harmful in Diabetic Nephropathy
• Judge Rejects Guidant Plea Agreement

Larry Husten, PHD

Vitamin B May Be Harmful in Diabetic Nephropathy: Once again the early hopes for vitamin B have been dashed against the rocks of a clinical trial. In a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Andrew House and colleagues report the results of DIVINe (Diabetic Intervention with Vitamins to Improve Nephropathy), a multicenter, […]

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