CardioExchange Archive

May 24th, 2011

Copeptin May Help Predict CV Death in Elderly HF Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

The biomarker copeptin, which is a surrogate marker of vasopressin, may help predict the risk for death in elderly heart failure patients, according to a new study in JAMA. Urban Alehagen and colleagues followed 470 elderly HF patients from 1996 through 2009, during which time there were 226 deaths from any cause and 146 deaths […]

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May 23rd, 2011

Eplerenone Found to Also Reduce AF in Heart Failure Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

Results from EMPHASIS-HF (Eplerenone and Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Systolic Heart Failure and Mild Symptoms) previously showed that adding the aldosterone antagonist eplerenone to standard therapy in patients with NYHA class II heart failure resulted in the reduction of the composite endpoint of death from cardiovascular causes or hospitalization for heart failure. Now, a […]

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May 9th, 2011

Words, ICDs, and Patient-Centered Medicine…

John Mandrola, MD, FACC

John Mandrola is a cardiac electrophysiologist and blogger on matters medical and general. Here is a recent post from his blog, Dr John M. Guess what made the heart rhythm newswire yesterday? It wasn’t a new medicine, or a new stent, not even a new ablation catheter, and it surely wasn’t a revolution in motivating people to exercise. It was words. […]

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April 21st, 2011

Will a STICH in Time Save Nine?

Anju Nohria, MD and James Fang, MD

A 57-year-old man with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and smoking presented with increasing dyspnea on exertion, mild chest discomfort, and lower-extremity edema. Physical exam results were consistent with decompensated heart failure. Echocardiographic findings: left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), 20% LV end-diastolic dimension, 6.3 cm global hypokinesis (with regional variation affecting the septum, inferior wall, and apex most […]

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April 19th, 2011

Non-Evidence-Based ICD Implants: The Debate Continues

Larry Husten, PHD

A controversial study published earlier this year in JAMA that found that nearly a quarter of all ICD implantations did not meet evidence-based criteria is the subject of further debate this week in the letters section of JAMA. In the first letter, Jeanne Poole and George Crossley take issue with the designation by the authors of […]

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April 7th, 2011

STICH: What’s the Value of CABG in Patients with LV Dysfunction?

Eric Jose Velazquez, MD

CardioExchange welcomes Eric J. Velazquez, an investigator for the STICH (Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure) trial, results of which were recently published in two articles in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Velazquez is the lead author of the STICH article that focuses on the clinical value of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) […]

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April 4th, 2011

STICH Illuminates CABG in Heart Failure, Finally

Larry Husten, PHD

After a very long wait, the Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure (STICH) trial has finally shed light on the common but poorly understood use of CABG in heart failure patients with ischemic heart disease. The results were presented by Eric Velazquez at the ACC and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. Some […]

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March 30th, 2011

ACC Preview: A STICH in Time

Eric Jose Velazquez, MD

Eric Velazquez is the principal investigator of the STICH (Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure) trial. He will present the main results of the trial at the Late’Breaking Clinical Trials II session on Monday morning. Velazquez relates the origins of STICH more than a decade ago and discusses some of the fascinating challenges of completing […]

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March 30th, 2011

Many Elderly Patients Excluded from Heart Failure Trials

Larry Husten, PHD

Despite the large and growing burden of heart failure in the elderly population, older people are often excluded from heart failure clinical trials. In a paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Antonio Cherubini and colleagues  examined 251 heart failure trials and found that a quarter of the trials excluded patients by an arbitrary upper […]

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March 25th, 2011

FDA Approves 2 New Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy-Pacemaker Systems From Medtronic

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA has approved two new cardiac resynchronization therapy-pacemaker (CRT-P) systems manufactured by Medtronic, the company announced. Both the Consulta® and Syncra™ CRT-P systems include an ECG reporting system, which works with the company’s network data monitoring system to offer remote follow-up of heart-failure patients. In addition, the Consulta includes Medtronic’s fluid monitoring system and […]

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