CardioExchange Archive

March 17th, 2010

Wednesday, March 17 News: Thoracic Aortic Disease Guidelines Released

Larry Husten, PHD

The AHA and the ACC released new practice guidelines for the management and treatment of thoracic aortic disease. Here is a press release about the guidelines. Here is the Executive Summary, with links to the full text, a slide set, and other material.

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March 16th, 2010

Tuesday, March 16 News Roundup: Cryoballoon Ablation Trial; FDA to Review ACCORD data; Trouble for Boston Scientific and Medtronic

Larry Husten, PHD

STOP-AF: The STOP-AF trial compared a novel cryoballoon ablation technology with antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy in 245 AF patients who had failed at least one AAD. Treatment success was achieved in 69.9% of cryoballoon patients versus 7.3% of AAD patients, a highly significant difference (p<0.001). Phrenic nerve palsy occurred in 13.5% of cryoballoon patients and 7.3% of […]

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March 16th, 2010

Follow Along with Your Colleagues at the ACC, Day 3

Andrew M. Kates, MD

See previous posts (ACC Day 1 and Day 2) Several Fellows in Cardiology who are attending this week’s ACC meeting are blogging together right here. The Fellows include Shane LaRue, Justin Bachmann, Nihar Desai, Shanti Bansal, and Hansie Mathelier. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz at the ACC — whether it’s a […]

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March 15th, 2010

As You Navigate Diabetes Prevention, Should Valsartan Be On Board?

John McMurray, MbChB MD

We welcome John J. McMurray, MD, lead author of the NEJM article on the valsartan component of the NAVIGATOR trial, to answer our questions about this angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB). We encourage you to ask yours. Background: In the NAVIGATOR trial, 9306 patients with impaired glucose tolerance and established cardiovascular disease or CVD risk factors were […]

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March 15th, 2010

Monday March 15 ACC News Roundup: RACE II; ZES versus SES; Optimal DAPT

Larry Husten, PHD

RACE II: Van Gelder et al. randomized 614 patients with AF to either strict rate control (resting heart rate < 80 bpm and heart rate during moderate exercise <110 bpm) or lenient rate control (resting heart rate < 80 bpm). The results were presented at the ACC in Atlanta and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of […]

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March 15th, 2010

Follow Along with Your Colleagues at the ACC, Day 2

Andrew M. Kates, MD

See previous post (ACC Day 1) and the following one (ACC Day 3) Several Fellows in Cardiology who are attending this week’s ACC meeting are blogging together right here. The Fellows include Shane LaRue, Justin Bachmann, Nihar Desai, Shanti Bansal, and Hansie Mathelier. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz at the ACC […]

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March 14th, 2010

Sunday, March 14 ACC News Roundup: ACCORD, NAVIGATOR, EVEREST II

Larry Husten, PHD

The ACC started the day with the release of 3 highly-anticipated clinical trials. ACCORD (Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Study) tested two separate therapeutic approaches in type 2 diabetics. In one arm, 5,518 patients already taking simvastatin were randomized to fenofibrate or placebo. After 4.7 years of followup, the annual rate of nonfatal MI, […]

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March 14th, 2010

Does Fenofibrate ACCORD with the Treatment of Diabetes?

henrynginsberg and Andrew M. Kates, MD

CardioExchange welcomes Dr. Henry N. Ginsberg to discuss the findings of the ACCORD Lipid Study Group. In this paper, researchers randomized 5,500 diabetic patients to fenofibrate therapy versus placebo. All patients received simvastatin. Although triglyceride levels improved markedly with fenofibrate, the incidence of cardiovascular events was not affected. CardioExchange Editors: Should we abandon fenofibrate for treating […]

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March 14th, 2010

Saturday March 13 News: Phase 3 Mipomersen Study

Larry Husten, PHD

Frederic J Raal et al. report results in the Lancet of a phase 3 study in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Fifty one subjects on high dose lipid-lowering drugs were randomized (on a 2:1 basis) to either placebo or mipomersen, a novel antisense inhibitor of apolipoprotein B synthesis. Patients on mipomersen had a 24.7% decrease in LDL, […]

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March 13th, 2010

Follow Along with Your Colleagues at the ACC, Day 1

Andrew M. Kates, MD

See Next Post (ACC Day 2) Several Fellows in Cardiology who are attending this week’s ACC meeting are blogging together right here. The Fellows include Shane LaRue, Justin Bachmann, Nihar Desai, Shanti Bansal, and Hansie Mathelier. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz at the ACC — whether it’s a poster, a presentation, […]

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