CardioExchange Archive

March 24th, 2014

ACC.14 Preview: Renal Denervation, TAVR Comparisons, and More

Larry Husten, PHD

The ACC begins this Saturday in Washington, DC. Here’s a preview of some of the most highly anticipated late-breaking clinical trials: On Saturday morning at the opening session the world will finally learn more about the failure of Symplicity HTN-3, the Medtronic trial of renal denervation. Until recently, renal denervation was thought to be an extremely […]

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March 20th, 2014

Pulmonary Embolism in a Patient with Acute Decompensated Systolic Heart Failure

Ian Neeland, MD and James Fang, MD

Ian Neeland presents our latest case: A 42-year-old man with heart failure is found to have a large pulmonary embolus. Tell us how you’d manage his treatment.

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March 17th, 2014

Phase 4 Actelion Study Misses Primary Endpoint

Larry Husten, PHD

Actelion announced today that a phase 4 study with its blockbuster drug bosentan (Tracleer) had failed to meet its primary endpoint. The COMPASS-2 trial was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the effect of bosentan on the time to first confirmed event in patients with symptomatic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) already receiving treatment with sildenafil. According to the company, a 17% risk […]

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March 12th, 2014

Clinical Trials For Diabetes Drugs Need To Consider Heart Failure

Larry Husten, PHD

Is heart failure the missing 800 pound gorilla in diabetes trials? That’s the argument proposed by a group of  prominent cardiovascular and diabetes researchers. It was long believed that by virtue of their glucose-lowering properties diabetes drugs would confer substantial cardiovascular benefits. That belief is no longer widely held, however, and the FDA now requires cardiovascular […]

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March 5th, 2014

4 Deaths Linked to Thoratec HeartMate II LVAS

Larry Husten, PHD

Thoratec Corporation on Tuesday issued an urgent safety advisory about a serious problem with a key component of the HeartMate II LVAS system. The company said four patients had died and five had a loss of consciousness or other symptoms of hypoperfusion. The episodes occurred when patients and caregivers “experienced difficulties with the process of changing from a […]

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February 12th, 2014

Case: Cardiorespiratory Arrest Requiring Intubation in a Patient with Diastolic Heart Failure

Saurav Chatterjee, MD and James Fang, MD

A 65-year-old African American woman with a history of hypertension, diabetes, and seizure disorder is brought to the ED via emergency medical services for respiratory distress requiring intubation. Two weeks earlier she was hospitalized for an exacerbation of acute diastolic heart failure; a transthoracic echocardiogram at that time documented an LV ejection fraction of 60% […]

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February 11th, 2014

FDA Investigating Heart Failure Risk Linked to Saxagliptin

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA said today that it is conducting an investigation of a possible increased risk for heart failure associated with the diabetes drug saxagliptin. Saxagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, is marketed by AstraZeneca as Onglyza and Kombiglyze XR. (AstraZeneca recently completed the purchase of all rights to the drug from its manufacturer, Bristol Myers-Squibb.) The investigation stems […]

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January 24th, 2014

European Setback for Novel Heart Failure Drug

Larry Husten, PHD

European regulators have dealt a setback to a novel heart failure drug under development by Novartis. The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended against giving market approval to serelaxin (Reasanz) for the treatment of acute heart failure. The recommendation is based largely on the committee’s analysis of the RELAX-AHF trial, which was published […]

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December 2nd, 2013

ACP Recommends Conservative Treatment for Heart Patients with Anemia

Larry Husten, PHD

The American College of Physicians (ACP) is recommending more conservative use of transfusions and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) in anemia patients with heart disease. But the authors of the new clinical practice guidelines, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, acknowledge that the evidence base is too flimsy to support firm conclusions. “Overall,” wrote the authors, “despite the epidemiologic and […]

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October 17th, 2013

Questioning Digoxin Use for Patients with Systolic HF

James Freeman, MD, MPH, MS

James Freeman discusses his research group’s evaluation of the contemporary effectiveness and safety of digoxin therapy among adults with newly diagnosed systolic heart failure.

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