CardioExchange Archive

January 22nd, 2010

Chantix and Cardiovascular Risk: Another Weak Safety Study

Joseph S. Ross, MD, MHS

In 2008, Dr. John Spangler of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine wrote a letter to the editor of Current Medical Research and Opinion expressing concern about a Pfizer-funded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix). By 1 year, the varenicline group had experienced a higher rate of serious adverse events than the […]

---

January 21st, 2010

Thursday January 21 News Roundup: Tough Day for Sibutramine, Abnormal Lipids in Youths; Baylor in Trouble with the NIH

Larry Husten, PHD

Tough Day for Sibutramine– The FDA announced today that sibutramine is now contraindicated for people with cardiovascular disease. Almost simultaneously, the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended that sibutramine be withdrawn from European markets. Abnormal Lipids in Youths– The CDC reported today that 20.3% of U.S. youths aged 12-19 have abnormal […]

---

January 20th, 2010

Wednesday January 20 News Roundup: Salt in NEJM; AHA Defines Cardiovascular Health; FDA Approves HeartMate II LVAS for Destination Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

Salty Stuff: Reducing dietary salt by 3 g per day would cut the annual number of new cases of CHD in the U.S. by 60,000 to 120,000, stroke by 32,000 to 66,000, and MI by 54,000 to 99,000, according to a report released early online in the NEJM by researchers from UCSF, Stanford, and Columbia University. […]

---

January 19th, 2010

Tuesday January 19 News Roundup: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Biological Aging in CAD Patients, Genetic Code Pioneer Dies

Larry Husten, PHD

Coronary patients with high levels of omega-3 fatty acid levels in their blood have a lower rate of telomere shortening, according to a new study in JAMA. The study bring together two very different strands of research. In one strand, the shortening of telomeres, the protective caps of DNA at the end of chromosomes, has […]

---

January 19th, 2010

Do Rapid Response Teams and Remote ICU Monitoring Actually Prevent Deaths?

Paul S. Chan, MD, MS

Hospitals devote a lot of resources to preventing in-hospital cardiac arrests. That makes sense because when one actually occurs, the patient has only a 1 in 6 chance of surviving to discharge. Two popular strategies for helping clinicians recognize and treat clinical deterioration before an in-hospital cardiac arrest are remote ICU monitoring and rapid response […]

---

January 18th, 2010

Monday January 18 News Roundup: Tailoring Statin Therapy, ED and CVD, Unnecessary Stents

Larry Husten, PHD

New Approach to Statin Therapy: Tailoring statin therapy based on individual risk is more effective and efficient than the treat-to-target approach  adopted by NCEP III, according to a new report in Annals of Internal Medicine by Rodney Hayward and colleagues (including CardioExchange’s Editor Harlan Krumholz). Using data from statin trials and national data on CAD […]

---

January 15th, 2010

Evaluations

Andrew M. Kates, MD

This Journal Watch summary of a recent article from the New England Journal of Medicine made me consider further an issue that seems to be all-consuming: evaluations. In training programs across the country, we are required to give and receive evaluations on a regular basis. The goal, at least in part, seems straightforward enough — trainees require feedback to effectively […]

---

January 15th, 2010

Japanese Study Links Radiation to Cardiovascular Disease Deaths

Larry Husten, PHD

Between 1950 and 2003 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had an increased risk of stroke and heart disease, according to a new analysis published in BMJ.   Japanese researchers estimated a 9% increased risk of stroke per gray and a 14% increased risk of heart disease per gray. An accompanying editorial notes that the study “adds […]

---

January 14th, 2010

Thursday January 14 Roundup: PLATO, ACC Loses in Court

Larry Husten, PHD

PLATO-Invasive: A large substudy from PLATO of ACS patients undergoing an invasive strategy has been published in the Lancet.  The substudy found that ticagrelor was superior to clopidogrel in 13,408 ACS patients for whom an invasive procedure was planned. Christopher Cannon et al. reported that the combined rate of CV death, MI, and stroke was significantly cut from […]

---

January 13th, 2010

How to Manage Renal-Artery Stenosis: Insights from an ASTRAL Investigator

Philip Kalra, MD

We welcome Philip A. Kalra, MD, one of the investigators and the lead nephrologist for the UK-based ASTRAL trial, to talk about the group’s article in the November 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine: Revascularization versus Medical Therapy for Renal-Artery Stenosis (N Engl J Med 2009; 361:1953). We asked him our questions […]

---