CardioExchange Archive

December 12th, 2011

More Commentary on Statin Drugs

Heather M Johnson, MD, MS

I was delighted when my friend, Dr. Kevin Pho, accepted my recent post on statin drugs. As a ‘student’ writer, I was also happy to read more than a couple ‘robust’ comments. No worries here, bike racers and heart docs have thick skin. I penned six responses on the KevinMD post. The gist of the comment is […]

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December 7th, 2011

CV Risk of Prostate Cancer Therapy Underappreciated

Larry Husten, PHD

Androgen suppression therapy (AST) for prostate cancer may be a serious risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) disease, according to a Viewpoint published online in Heart. The scope of the problem is widely underappreciated and is rarely considered in clinical practice, write Liam Bourke and colleagues. The subject was also the topic of a 2010 scientific statement from the American Heart […]

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December 6th, 2011

Change in Fitness Appears More Important Than BMI Over Time

Larry Husten, PHD

Experts have been debating the relative roles of obesity and fitness in cardiovascular risk. Now a new report from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, published in Circulation, finds that maintaining or improving cardiorespiratory fitness significantly lowers CV mortality irrespective of changes in BMI. Duck-chul Lee and colleagues followed 14,435 men for 11.4 years. Compared with people […]

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November 30th, 2011

Generic Atorvastatin Hits the Market

Larry Husten, PHD

The first generic version of Lipitor (atorvastatin) became available today as the exclusive patent held by Pfizer finally expired. Lipitor was by far the most successful prescription drug in history. Watson Pharmaceuticals announced an authorized generic version. One other company, Ranbaxy, has been authorized to market atorvastatin, but has struggled to gain FDA approval of its manufacturing plant. The company has […]

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November 22nd, 2011

Long-Term Follow-up of HPS Shows Extended Benefits of Statins

Larry Husten, PHD

Long-term follow-up of patients enrolled in the Heart Protection Study (HPS) demonstrates continued benefits in the group originally randomized to receive simvastatin instead of placebo. The main results of the HPS, published in 2002, showed a significant 23% reduction at 5.3 years in major vascular events associated with simvastatin treatment among the 20,536 patients with coronary […]

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November 16th, 2011

Evacetrapib – The New Wonder Drug?

Amit Shah, MD, MSCR

Impressive safety and efficacy data on evacetrapib—but it’s too early give odds on whether it’s a true wonder drug or a nightmare like its fellow CETP inhibitor, torceptrapib

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November 16th, 2011

Was AIM HIGH a Hit or a Miss?

Reva Balakrishnan, MD, MPH

One of the best parts of this conference has been the opportunity to hear experts on the panels dissect and interpret the data following the presentations.

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November 16th, 2011

Experts Clash Over AIM-HIGH

Larry Husten, PHD

Sparks flew at the AHA press conference yesterday when the designated discussant for the AIM-HIGH trial, Australia’s Philip Barter, said that “the design was such that in no way could it test the hypothesis” that niacin therapy may be beneficial. “This trial disturbs me greatly,” he said. The trial co-principal investigator, William Boden, defended his […]

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November 16th, 2011

AHA Lessons on Emotions and Heart Disease: Depressing Data but Hopeful Trends

Amit Shah, MD, MSCR

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending AHA.11 this week are blogging together on CardioExchange.  The Fellows include Revathi Balakrishnan, Eiman Jahangir, John Ryan (moderator), and Amit Shah. Read the previous post here. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz in Orlando. The many studies and sessions devoted to depression and heart disease at AHA — […]

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November 16th, 2011

POWER to the People

John Ryan, MD

Several Cardiology Fellows who are attending AHA.11 this week are blogging together on CardioExchange.  The Fellows include Revathi Balakrishnan, Eiman Jahangir, John Ryan (moderator), and Amit Shah. Read the previous post here. Check back often to learn about the biggest buzz in Orlando. Tuesday, I heard the presentation of the Practice-Based Opportunities for Weight Reduction (POWER) trial, […]

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