CardioExchange Archive

June 7th, 2013

“Your Mortality Risk Is 11.827%”

John E Brush, MD

John Brush reflects on what clinicians understand about the concept of probability and how to explain it to patients.

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June 4th, 2013

Study Finds More Musculoskeletal Problems in People Who Take Statins

Larry Husten, PHD

An observational study published in JAMA Internal Medicine provides new evidence suggesting that people who take statins are more likely to develop musculoskeletal problems. Ishak Mansi and colleagues analyzed data from 6,967 statin users and an equal number of propensity-matched nonusers who were active-duty soldiers, veterans, and their families in the San Antonio Military Area. They found that […]

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June 4th, 2013

With One Big Exception FDA Reviewers Back More Benign View of Avandia Trial

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA has released a 538-page briefing document for an advisory panel meeting on Wednesday and Thursday that will reassess a key clinical trial and reconsider the fate of the now-tarnished former blockbuster diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline). (Click here for the FDA documents.) As reported last week, the re-adjudication of the RECORD safety trial performed by […]

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June 4th, 2013

Day Two At the NLA: Interviewed On The Radio

Reva Balakrishnan, MD, MPH

June 2– The early part of my second day at the NLA conference started out in an exciting way. As a third place winner of the Young Investigators abstract competition I was invited to talk about my research on “Lipid Luminations,”XM radio’s Reach MD station hosted by Dr. Alan Brown.  My research, titled “Prevalence of […]

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June 3rd, 2013

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: June 3rd

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include pacemaker or ICD surgery without interrupting anticoagulation, the diagnostic accuracy of conventional or age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off values in older patients with suspected VTE, and ICD shocks.

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June 3rd, 2013

Waiting For ATP IV In Las Vegas

Reva Balakrishnan, MD, MPH

May 31– Today was the first full day of the National Lipid Association meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a first time attendee, I notice many differences compared to the larger meetings. Firstly, there are ~ 700 people in attendance; this dwarfs in comparison to the AHA and ACC which count attendees in the thousands. […]

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May 31st, 2013

Two FDA Officials Quarrel Over Safety of Angiotensin-Receptor Blockers

Larry Husten, PHD

Two FDA officials are quarreling in public about their different views about the safety of angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), according to a story by Thomas Burton in Friday’s Wall Street Journal. One official, Thomas Marciniak, contends that ARBs may increase the risk for cancer. Marciniak has been a vocal critic of FDA’s efforts to assess drug  safety. In […]

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May 30th, 2013

Large Meta-Analysis Quantifies Risks Posed by Coxibs and Traditional NSAIDs

Larry Husten, PHD

Findings from a very large meta-analysis of clinical trials of NSAIDs may now allow physicians to quantify the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal risks associated with these drugs. The results of the Coxib and traditional NSAID Trialists’ (CNT) Collaboration, employing data from more than 350,000 randomized patients, have been published in the Lancet. Here are some of the key findings: The […]

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May 29th, 2013

Report on the RECORD Trial Released

Larry Husten, PHD

An independent re-adjudication of the RECORD trial has confirmed the trial’s original finding that rosiglitazone does not increase cardiovascular risk. But critics of the trial and the drug are unlikely to be appeased by the new result. The re-adjudication of RECORD will be the subject of an extraordinary 2-day FDA advisory committee meeting next week […]

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May 28th, 2013

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: May 28th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include the mechanisms of acute coronary syndromes, the gap in life expectancy from preventable physical illness (including CVD) in psychiatric patients, and a comparison study of CABG vs. PCI.

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