CardioExchange Archive

April 19th, 2010

Will the FDA Halt Avandia Safety Study?

Larry Husten, PHD

The Wall Street Journal reports that the FDA might terminate TIDE, the ongoing study testing the cardiovascular safety of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone. Alicia Mundy and Jennifer Corbett Dooren write that the agency could also choose to pull rosiglitazone from the U.S. market entirely. But the FDA won’t reach any decision until after an advisory panel […]

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April 16th, 2010

Board Examinations, Again…

John Mandrola, MD, FACC

CardioExchange welcomes this guest post reprinted with permission from Dr. John M, a blog by private-practice electrophysiologist and CardioExchange member, Dr. John Mandrola. It was a brightly lit wide open room with many cubicles arranged on the periphery.  The test takers were grown-ups, but all carried that worried student look.  The secretary at the desk […]

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April 16th, 2010

FDA Permits Boston Scientific to Resume Sales of Most ICDs

Larry Husten, PHD

FDA Permits Boston Scientific to Resume Sales of Most ICDs: Following a 30-day suspension of sales of Boston Scientific ICDs and CRT-Ds, the FDA has given the company a green light to resume sales of most, but not all, of these devices. The suspension occurred after the company made significant manufacturing changes without following FDA […]

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April 15th, 2010

Prostate Cancer and Endocrine Therapy Linked to Increased Risk of Thromboembolic Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

Prostate Cancer and Endocrine Therapy Linked to Increased Risk of Thromboembolic Disease: To assess the risk of thromboembolic disease in men with prostate cancer, Mieke Van Hemelrijck and colleagues analyzed data from the National Prostate Cancer Register in Sweden. They report, in a paper published online in Lancet Oncology, that men with prostate cancer had […]

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April 14th, 2010

• Final Results of ARBITER 6-HALTS
• Malpractice and Regional Variation

Larry Husten, PHD

The final results of the ARBITER 6-HALTS trial, which provoked an explosion of controversy upon initial publication last November, have now been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The trial compared ezetimibe to extended-release niacin in high-risk patients already taking statins. Villines et al. report the CIMT results on 315 patients […]

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April 13th, 2010

• Financial Worries Lead to Delays in Seeking Care for MI
• Valve-in-Valve Approach to Fixing Failing Bioprosthetic Valves

Larry Husten, PHD

Financial Worries Lead to Delays in Seeking Care for MI: Nearly 40% of patients in a registry of 3,721 U.S. acute MI patients were without insurance or were insured but had financial concerns. These patients were more likely to delay seeking care than patients who were insured without financial concerns, according to a report by […]

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April 13th, 2010

Are You Really a Cardiovascular Prevention Specialist?

Juan J. Rivera, MD, MHS

I call myself a “preventive cardiologist,” but what makes me different from other cardiologists? Many academic centers categorize cardiovascular prevention as a distinct field within cardiology that merits its own label, sub-department, and leadership. Outside the university, however, the distinction may seem, well, academic. But not to me. Although I’ve been in practice for only […]

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April 12th, 2010

• Long-Term Outcome After Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
• ICDs and CRTs in Older Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Long-term outcome after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair is no better than open repair or no repair (in patients deemed unsuitable for open repair), according to results of the EVAR 1 and EVAR 2 trials published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Previous trials had found short-term benefits for endovascular repair, but the […]

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April 8th, 2010

Building a Better Vessel with Stem Cells

Larry Husten, PHD

Building a Better Vessel with Stem Cells: It’s still a long way from reaching clinical practice, but tissue engineers are making serious advances in their efforts to grow bypass grafts using stem cells. At the AHA’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Annual Conference now underway in San Francisco, Stephen McIlhenny reported on the successful in […]

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April 7th, 2010

• CIMT in Risk Assessment
• Survival After CABG — It’s Not Race or Sex, It’s Being Poor

Larry Husten, PHD

CIMT in Risk Assessment: When added to traditional risk factors, CIMT (carotid intima-media thickness) and the presence or absence of plaque improve risk prediction, according to a paper from the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) Study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Vijay Nambi and colleagues report that they were able to […]

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