CardioExchange Archive

March 21st, 2013

DIGging In: Three Reasons Why the Recent Digoxin Study Is Not Relevant to Readmission

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM

The evidence is just not compelling that this this drug would reduce hospital readmissions

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March 12th, 2013

Sildenafil Does Not Improve Exercise Capacity in HF with Preserved Ejection Fraction

Nicholas Downing, MD

Sildenafil does not improve exercise capacity or clinical status in patients with symptomatic heart failure (HF) and preserved ejection fraction, according to a JAMA study. This finding contrasts with previous research suggesting a potential benefit in such patients. Some 220 HF patients with ejection fractions of 50% or greater were randomized to receive oral sildenafil or […]

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March 12th, 2013

More Negative Heart Failure Trials: Blogging from ACC.13

Tariq Ahmad, MD, MPH

Might more accurate definitions of heart failure result in more positive trial results?

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March 10th, 2013

Another Negative Trial of Darbepoetin Alfa

Larry Husten, PHD

For more of our ACC.13 coverage of late-breaking clinical trials, interviews with the authors of the most important research, and blogs from our fellows on the most interesting presentations at the meeting, check out our Coverage Headquarters. Once again a trial testing the erythropoiesis-stimulating agent darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp, Amgen) has produced a negative result. Results of […]

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March 10th, 2013

Eplerenone May Help Prevent Heart Failure in Acute STEMI Patients

Larry Husten, PHD

For more of our ACC.13 coverage of late-breaking clinical trials, interviews with the authors of the most important research, and blogs from our fellows on the most interesting presentations at the meeting, check out our Coverage Headquarters. A new trial presented at the ACC in San Francisco suggests that the mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonist eplerenone (Pfizer, Inspra) may […]

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February 26th, 2013

Mixed Results for Spironolactone in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

Larry Husten, PHD

Although the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists spironolactone and eplerenone have been shown to be beneficial in patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (EF), their role in  HF patients with preserved EF has not been tested until now. Now the results of the Aldo-DHF study (Aldosterone Receptor Blockade in Diastolic Heart Failure), published in […]

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February 19th, 2013

‘So, Doctor, How Bad Is It?’

Reva Balakrishnan, MD, MPH

While on my Electrophysiology rotation, I was asked to interrogate an ICD of a patient who had received a shock from her device the night prior to admission. I performed the interrogation, confirmed that it was an appropriate shock for VT, noting that multiple appropriate shocks had occurred in the preceding months. As I was […]

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January 28th, 2013

Study Warns Against Dual Blockade of Renin-Angiotensin System in Heart Failure and Hypertension

Larry Husten, PHD

The enormous success of ACE inhibitors in hypertension and heart failure spurred hope that adding a second drug to block the renin-angiotensin system would yield improved outcomes. Although definitive evidence supporting dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin system has never been found, more than 200,000 patients in the U.S. currently receive this therapy. Now a large new meta-analysis […]

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January 22nd, 2013

Trials of Niacin and AF Device Will Headline American College of Cardiology Program

Larry Husten, PHD

Two big trials will highlight this year’s American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting in March in San Francisco. First is the PREVAIL trial testing Boston Scientific’s long-anticipated Watchman left atrial appendage closure device for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Second is the detailed presentation of the controversial failed HPS2-THRIVE trial of extended-release niacin and laropiprant. The […]

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January 16th, 2013

No Benefit of Darbepoetin Alfa in Heart Failure Patients with Anemia

Larry Husten, PHD

The bad news continues for Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), Amgen’s long-acting erythropoietin-stimulating agent. The company today announced the top-line results of a large phase 3 heart-failure trial of the drug and said that the trial had failed to meet its primary endpoint. The RED-HF (Reduction of Events With Darbepoetin Alfa in Heart Failure) Trial, which started in 2006, had randomized 2278 […]

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