CardioExchange Archive

May 17th, 2012

Azithromycin Associated with Cardiovascular Death

Physician's First Watch, CardioExchange Staff

The antibiotic azithromycin — which may have proarrhythmic properties — is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular death, according to a retrospective cohort study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, in a Medicaid population, included nearly 350,000 azithromycin prescriptions, 1.4 million control periods without antibiotic prescriptions, and 1.8 million prescriptions for other […]

---

May 16th, 2012

Changes in Air Pollution During Beijing Olympics Tied to Inflammatory Biomarkers

Nicholas Downing, MD

Reductions in air pollution during the Beijing Olympics were associated with decreases in certain biomarkers of inflammation and thrombosis in healthy young adults, according to a JAMA study. Researchers measured levels of air pollutants in 2-week periods before, during, and after the Olympics, and also measured blood levels of cardiovascular disease biomarkers in 125 healthy […]

---

May 14th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of May 14th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week Richard discusses studies of glucose, insulin, and potassium for MI, elective PCI with and without surgical standby, and varenicline and CV risk.

---

May 10th, 2012

Three Guideposts for Talking to Loved Ones After a Patient Dies

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

Harlan Krumholz shares his techniques for helping to heal the people whom a deceased patient leaves behind.

---

May 8th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of May 7th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include a comparison of abciximab and manual aspiration thrombectomy in STEMI, the quality of U.S. clinical trials, 2-year data on PARTNER, TAVR in inoperable decompensating stenosis, clopidogrel genetic testing, and strategies to reduce MI mortality.

---

May 8th, 2012

Persistent Concerns About Lorcaserin (Lorqess) from FDA Reviewers

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA has posted briefing documents for Thursday’s meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee to reconsider the new drug application for lorcaserin (Lorqess, Arena). The reviewers do not appear to have substantially altered their view of lorcaserin.

---

May 4th, 2012

Reanalyzed Chantix Data Yield Smaller CV Risk, New Controversy

Physician's First Watch, CardioExchange Staff

A new meta-analysis criticizes earlier work warning that the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix) poses increased cardiovascular risks. The analysis appears in BMJ. It was performed by researchers with no current ties to the drug maker, but one of whom had received a Pfizer investigator-initiated research award. The new analysis examined the risk of treatment-emergent serious […]

---

May 4th, 2012

Company Fails To Disclose Details About Heart Failure Risk of Drug

Larry Husten, PHD

Boehringer Ingelheim failed to fully disclose data suggesting that one of its drugs, pramipexole,  a dopamine agonist sold under the brand name of Mirapex, is associated with a significantly increased risk of heart failure, according to a recent news report. The drug, which was originally developed for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, is now also used to treat […]

---

April 30th, 2012

Certain Hospital Management Strategies Associated With Higher MI Survival Rates

Betsy Bradley, Ph.D. and John Ryan, MD

John Ryan interviews Elizabeth Bradley about the hospital management strategies that can reduce 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for acute myocardial infarction.

---

April 30th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Literature Review: Week of April 30th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week, Richard looks at endocarditis and ICDs, more stent wars, stroke prevention in A-Fib, and more.

---