CardioExchange Archive

January 5th, 2010

What Impact Might Health Care Reform Have on Cardiology Fellowship Training?

James De Lemos, MD

I work largely in a county hospital, and so I see firsthand the negative effects of underinsurance. However, I confess that when I read the newspaper, I start with the sports page … and pretty much finish with the sports page (unless there is something juicy in the entertainment section). One of my New Year’s […]

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January 5th, 2010

Tuesday News Roundup: Catheter Ablation of VT, TRITON-TIMI 38 Substudy, Benefits of Exercise, & More

Larry Husten, PHD

The VTACH trial of catheter ablation of VT prior to ICD implantation has been published in the Lancet. You can find summaries of the trial at Cardiosource, TheHeart.Org and MedPage Today. The TRITON-TIMI 38 cost-effectiveness substudy of prasugrel vs. clopidogrel in ACS patients appears in Circulation. Lilly also issued a press release. Two articles in the Wall Street Journal focus on the […]

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January 4th, 2010

Braunwald Guides New Conflict-of-Interest Policy at Partners  

Larry Husten, PHD

At the start of the year a far more stringent conflict-of-interest policy went into effect at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, according to a story in the New York Times. The new policy limits pay for top officials who serve as outside directors for companies and forbids any employee from accepting speaking fees […]

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January 3rd, 2010

Top Cardiology Stories of 2009

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

Dear Readers, This year the annual Journal Watch Cardiology Top Stories feature has a new dimension. We are presenting two lists — one from us and one from you. To create the Journal Watch Cardiology 2009: Editors’ Choice list, our editors voted for the stories that they believe to be most important to you and […]

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January 3rd, 2010

CardioExchange in 2010

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

Happy New Year! On behalf of everyone at CardioExchange, I want to thank you for being part of our experiment. I hope that all of you have seen the potential for what a community of cardiologists led by a group of independent experts can do to improve patient care. CardioExchange is still very much a […]

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January 2nd, 2010

Israeli Cardiologists Withdraw from ISCHEMIA

Larry Husten, PHD

Israeli cardiologists have decided they won’t participate in the ISCHEMIA trial, the planned NIH-funded follow-up to COURAGE. Click here to read an article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, or additional coverage on CardioBrief.

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December 18th, 2009

Deciding When to Bridge

Anju Nohria, MD and James Fang, MD

A 61-year-old man presented with 6 hours of chest pain and ECG changes consistent with an acute anterior-wall myocardial infarction. His cardiac troponin I was 59 ng/mL. Urgent angiography revealed an occluded LAD and 70% proximal OM1, 70% proximal OM2, and 90% proximal RCA stenoses. He was taken to the catheterization laboratory, where an attempt to open the […]

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December 18th, 2009

The CT Scan Is Out of the Bag

Brahmajee Kartik Nallamothu, MD, MPH

No doubt you’ve read about the FDA’s October announcement that it was investigating more than 200 cases of excess radiation exposure — at 8 times the expected level — during perfusion CT scans of the brain at a Los Angeles area medical center. In some patients, the excess exposure resulted in hair loss and reddening of […]

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December 18th, 2009

Avoiding Wrong Meds in Dialysis Patients Having PCI: The Expert’s Recommendations

Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA

According to a recent study, almost one-fourth of dialysis patients undergoing PCI receive an antithrombotic agent (enoxaparin or eptifibatide) that is contraindicated in individuals with renal disease, resulting in excessive major bleeding and death.  In a CardioExchange blog, the study’s lead author notes that this error was more likely to occur in hospitals that were rural or non-teaching or that had […]

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December 16th, 2009

To Recommend Aspirin or Not to Recommend Aspirin, That Is the Question

Joseph S. Ross, MD, MHS

The debate over the use of aspirin in primary prevention of cardiovascular events among adults with no known cardiovascular disease continues to grow. In March, the United States Preventive Services Task Force assigned Class A recommendations to encourage: Men 45-79 to use aspirin when potential MI benefit outweighs potential GI harm Women 55-79 to use […]

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