CardioExchange Archive

December 21st, 2012

A Look Forward to 2013

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

CardioExchange invited contributors and members to offer predictions for 2013. Several of these folks also offered predictions for last year and helped assess the most important developments in cardiology in 2012. What are your predictions for the year?   Steven E Nissen, MD The IMPROVE-IT Trial will complete and show no reduction in morbidity-mortality with addition of ezetimibe to […]

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December 21st, 2012

A Look Back at 2012

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

CardioExchange invited several members and participants to give us a list of what they consider the top three most important developments in cardiology in 2012.  The same CardioExchange members offer predictions for 2013, which you can view here. Also, for comparison, check out last year’s predictions for 2012 to see which came to fruition. What would your choices […]

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December 21st, 2012

Dabigatran Shouldn’t Be Used in Patients with Mechanical Heart Valves

Kristin J. Kelley, CardioExchange Staff

Dabigatran (Pradaxa) should not be prescribed to prevent blood clots or stroke in patients with mechanical heart valves, the FDA warned. The warning follows the termination of a European clinical trial in which patients taking dabigatran had more frequent thromboembolic events than those on warfarin. Dabigatran patients also experienced more bleeding after valve surgery. Patients […]

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December 18th, 2012

Promising One-Year Results for Renal Denervation in Resistant Hypertension

Larry Husten, PHD

Denervation of the renal sympathetic nerve may become an important new tool in the fight against resistant hypertension.  Previously, the main results of the Symplicity HTN-2 trial demonstrated that in selected patients renal denervation resulted in a large and highly significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (BP) at six months. Now, longer followup from the trial, published in Circulation, […]

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December 18th, 2012

Amgen Pleads Guilty to Misbranding Anemia Drug Aranesp

Larry Husten, PHD

Biotechnology giant Amgen today pleaded guilty in federal court to a misdemeanor charge of misbranding Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), its highly successful anemia drug. The government accused Amgen of marketing Aranesp for indications not approved by the FDA and other illegal marketing practices. The judge deferred a decision on the plea until Wednesday. When the final settlement is announced further details […]

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December 17th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: December 17th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include a study on ICD programming to reduce inappropriate therapy and mortality, a clinical review of diagnosing and managing supraventricular tachycardia, the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, and more.

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December 12th, 2012

FDA: Small, Nonsignificant Risk from Chantix

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA today updated its safety review of the smoking cessation drug varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer). A large meta-analysis, which the FDA had required Pfizer to perform, found a higher rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients taking varenicline than in patients taking placebo. However, the increase in risk was very small and did not achieve statistical significance. […]

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December 12th, 2012

State of the Heart: AHA Publishes Year-End Statistical Update

Larry Husten, PHD

Although deaths from cardiovascular disease have been declining for many years, continued progress is threatened by disturbing trends in U.S. lifestyles. That’s the clear message from the American Heart Association’s year-end report, “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update 2013,” published in Circulation. “Americans need to move a lot more, eat healthier and less, and manage risk […]

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December 12th, 2012

AMPLIFYING Treatment for DVT/PE

John Ryan, MD

John Ryan reviews the latest data and suggests that DVT/PE be managed as a chronic condition. Are you using apixaban in these patients, and how long are you treating them for?

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December 11th, 2012

No Surprise: Smoking and Sudden Cardiac Death Closely Tied

Larry Husten, PHD

Compared with women who never smoked, the risk of sudden cardiac death was significantly elevated in current smokers (relative risk 2.44) and former smokers (1.40). Quitting helps: by 20 years the risk for ex-smokers was similar to women who had never smoked.

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