CardioExchange Archive

February 12th, 2010

Statins for Preventing CAD: Is It Better to Tailor Treatment or Treat to Target?

James De Lemos, MD

We welcome Rodney A. Hayward, MD, to this forum to talk about his recent article Optimizing Statin Treatment for Primary Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease (Ann Intern Med 2010; 152:69), which was coauthored by Harlan Krumholz, MD, Editor of CardioExchange. James de Lemos, MD, asked Hayward some key questions. We encourage you to ask yours and […]

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February 11th, 2010

Study finds significant lesions in one-fifth of patients with zero calcium scores

Larry Husten, PHD

(Note to readers: CardioExchange invited experts with divergent opinions about this study to participate in a debate. The first part of the debate, including comments from PK Shah, Matthew Budoff, and Rita Redberg, is presented at the bottom of this news story.) A calcium score of zero does not completely rule out significant coronary disease, […]

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February 11th, 2010

Thursday, February 11 News: Fulminant Myocarditis in Children with H1N1

Larry Husten, PHD

Myocarditis & H1N1 in Children: In an expedited research correspondence appearing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Bratincsák et al. report four cases of children with H1N1 influenza A virus at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego who developed myocarditis, including three with fulminant myocarditis with fatal or near-fatal outcomes. The authors […]

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February 10th, 2010

Wednesday February 10 News Blizzard: Childhood Obesity & CV Disease; Migraine & CV Disease

Larry Husten, PHD

Childhood Obesity & CV Disease: Researchers followed 4,857 American Indian children without diabetes who were born between 1945 and 1984. They found significantly increased risk of premature death in children with obesity, glucose intolerance, and hypertension. By contrast, childhood hypercholesterolemia did not predict early death. The study by Franks and colleagues appears in the New England Journal […]

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February 9th, 2010

Tuesday February 9 News Roundup: Rosuvastatin Gets Primary Prevention Indication; Providing Global Risk Assessment; IBD & VTE

Larry Husten, PHD

New Indication for Crestor: The FDA on Monday granted a primary prevention indication for rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca). The decisionis based on the results of the JUPITER trial and a subsequent FDA advisory panel hearing. Click here to read the FDA’s Questions and Answers from the FDA for Healthcare Professionals on CRESTOR and the JUPITER Trial. Click […]

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February 9th, 2010

An ENDEAVOR to COMPARE 2nd Generation DES

L. David Hillis, MD

In two recent studies, second-generation drug-eluting stents were compared with first-generation paclitaxel-eluting stents.  In COMPARE, the everolimus-eluting stent was superior (31% risk reduction in “target lesion failure”), whereas in ENDEAVOR IV, the zotarolimus-eluting stent showed similar efficacy and safety to the paclitaxel-eluting stent.  In light of these data, is there any role for the zotarolimus-eluting […]

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February 8th, 2010

Monday February 8 News Roundup: Zero Calcium Score; AHA/ACC Scientific Statement on TdP; Warning on Boston Scientific ICDs  

Larry Husten, PHD

What Does a Zero Calcium Score Mean? In a high risk group scheduled for angiography, having a zero calcium score does not mean a zero chance of coronary disease. In a paper appearing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Gottlieb and colleagues obtained calcium scores from 291 patients scheduled for angiography and […]

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February 7th, 2010

Tackling Tobacco Cessation

Joseph S. Ross, MD, MHS

Last week, I posted a Voices blog detailing my concerns about a recent randomized controlled trial of varenicline that, in my opinion, was just another weak safety study. Absent from that post was a discussion of varenicline’s effectiveness, which was significant. At 12 weeks, 47% of varenicline users had been continuously abstinent, versus 14% of […]

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February 5th, 2010

Friday February 5 News Roundup: PPIs & Clopidogrel; Aspirin Underuse and Overuse; New AF Ablation Trial

Larry Husten, PHD

PPIs & Clopidogrel– A retrospective analysis of 820 patients at the Washington Hospital Center who received clopidogrel after a drug-eluting stent implantation found more adverse events at one year among those who were also taking a proton pump inhibitor. The report by Gaglie et al appears online in the American Journal of Cardiology.Aspirin Underuse and […]

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February 4th, 2010

Thursday, February 4 News Roundup: Weight Loss at High Altitude, Large VTE Prevention Trial Initiated

Larry Husten, PHD

Weight Loss at High Altitude: Obese people lose weight at high altitudes, according to a new study in Obesity. Lippl et al. studied 20 obese patients before and after a 1-week stay at high altitude. Patients weighed less and had a higher metabolic rate after the high-altitude stay. The authors concluded that “hypobaric hypoxia seems to play […]

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