CardioExchange Archive

September 18th, 2014

Fellows: Want to Blog for CardioExchange at AHA.14?

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM and John Ryan, MD

CardioExchange editors Harlan Krumholz and John Ryan are looking for fellows to blog for CardioExchange at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions from November 15th through the 19th in Chicago. If you are interested in blogging, please contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!

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September 18th, 2014

FDA Approves New Once-Weekly GLP-1 Receptor Agonist for Type 2 Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA said today that it had approved dulaglutide, Lilly’s once-weekly injection to control blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. The drug will be marketed under the brand name of Trulicity. The FDA said that the safety and efficacy of dulaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, had been studied in  3,342 type 2 diabetics. The drug […]

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September 15th, 2014

Cheaper Generic Statins Beat Brand-Name Statins in Adherence and Outcomes

Larry Husten, PHD

A large observational study finds that people who received a prescription for a generic statin were more likely to take their pills than people who received a prescription for a brand-name statin. This increased adherence appeared to lead to a small but significant improvement in outcomes. In a paper published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Joshua Gagne […]

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September 15th, 2014

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: September 15th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include prehospital ticagrelor in STEMI, ivabradine in stable CAD without clinical HF, FFR-guided PCI for stable CAD, and more.

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September 15th, 2014

No Endorsement for Routine ECG Screening of Young People

Larry Husten, PHD

In a new scientific statement the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology do not recommend the routine initial use of ECGs to screen young people for underlying congenital or genetic heart disease. More aggressive screening for heart disease in young people is often advocated in response to pressure resulting from the rare but […]

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September 15th, 2014

How to Ace Your Fellowship Interview

Ethan J Weiss, M.D.

The following compilation of fellowship interview tips was originally published on Twitter between August 15th and 18th by Ethan Weiss, a cardiologist with 13 years of experience interviewing fellowship applicants. Matthew Pirotte also supplied this helpful graph categorizing potential applicants. 1. Prepare like you are interviewing for a job. You are. Know who you are meeting and […]

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September 11th, 2014

Is This Trial Ethical?

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Does the need for a new placebo-controlled trial of epinephrine in cardiac arrest justify questionable consent procedures?

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September 11th, 2014

FDA Approves New Weight Loss Drug

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA announced today that it had approved Contrave, the long-awaited and much-disputed weight loss drug.  Contrave is a combination of two drugs already approved for other indications: naltrexone hydrochloride, which is used to combat alcohol and opioid dependence, and bupropion, which is used to treat depression and seasonal affective disorder and as an aid to smoking cessation treatment. […]

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September 10th, 2014

FDA Advisory Panel Offers Cautious Support for Polypill

Larry Husten, PHD

The controversial polypill took one step closer to reaching the U.S. market after receiving a mostly positive reception from the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee on Wednesday. The idea for the polypill– which in this case would be composed of aspirin, a statin, and one or more blood pressure drugs– has been kicking around for […]

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September 9th, 2014

Lower Rate of Microvascular Complications in Statin Users Who Develop Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

In recent years, the medical community has become increasingly aware that taking statins can result in slightly higher glucose levels, and this can lead to a diagnosis of diabetes in a small but statistically significant number of people. But it has been unclear whether the diagnosis of diabetes in people taking statins also places them […]

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